I don't understand why you'd want to stop crawlers. If you didn't want people to see your content, it probably shouldn't be on the public web.

Something else great about multi-stage builds is that you can actually put all your unit tests in as part of the build flow. It should make CI more portable.

Also see the same article in the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122902532265099095.html

Bodes well for facebook apps with digital goods business models

I see where you're coming from, but I'll play devil's advocate and say that your line of thinking is flawed.

The advantage of gifts is that they're Facebook-sponsored. Everybody has them. They get displayed in a special manner that other apps can't take, because Facebook still controls the user's Home page completely.

So while it's POSSIBLE that other apps gain SOME sales, if it's not native it'll take a hit.

Good stuff

I spoke on this topic at the Web 2.0 expo on Wednesday and have blogged on it in the past.

presentation available here:

http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/presentation-at-web-20-today-show-me-the-money/