Microsoft Has Uphill Battle Against Craigslist

from the goliath-and-david dept

Mon, Mar 20th 2006 12:06pm — Joseph Weisenthal

Because the free classifieds market isn't crowded enough, Microsoft has decided to take a stab at the Craigslist-dominated industry. The new service, called Expo, hopes to beat Craigslist by leveraging Microsoft's network of users. For example, users of MSN messenger will be able to see which of their friends currently has something for sale on the site. But is there really demand, among buyers, to limit their purchases to just their IM buddies? If so, it's a small niche. Expo is also able to sync up real estate listings with a satellite image of the home, a cool feature, but one that Craigslist could probably whip up in an afternoon using Google Earth, as Zillow already has. Almost any feature can be copied easily, so there really aren't barriers to entry in this space. The only way to prosper is to have a community. In this measure, Craigslist holds the trump card, their freewheeling uncensored bulletin boards where people rant about politics, sex, and bicyclists' rights. In the absence of having anything to buy or sell, people come back to the site just to read the posts. Unless Expo can replicate this, it's going to tough for them to gain in this area.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

27 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Swati, 20 Mar 2006 @ 12:20pm

microsoft failed. first look at the website i felt lost. couldn't they separate the categories by using something other than the bold tag? all jammed together in the center of the screen.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No One Inparticular, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:11pm

Microsoft is gay...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ZOMG CENSORED, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:23pm
  
  Re:
  It has sex with other monopolies of the same gender? That's spectacular.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:44pm
  
  Re:
  Is it in San Francisco is the gay.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- thecaptain, 21 Mar 2006 @ 5:17am
  
  Re:
  Your brilliant and mature analysis floors me.
  
  Microsoft is a pretty big word to spell at 6 years old...your parents must be so proud.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
dan wendell, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:25pm

cas and ers
Microsoft will go nowhere until they add cas and ers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bill Ross, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:35pm

The octpus extends a new tenticle
So how many business models is M$ going to reach into in an attempt to turn into a possible licensing opportunity? There's such a thing a spreading yourself too thin. There's also the legacy of failed business plans in the Microsoft stable that would seem to indicate they either don't want to or fail to learn from mistakes. I guess if you are made of cash it doesn't matter.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bigdaddy, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:43pm

What losers
Seems like good ole Bill Gates is up to stealing others ideas....Hope him and his buddy Mike Dell FALL on the faces. What is funny about this one is they did the same thing when myspace.com went nuts. What a bunch of losers!!!!! Guess that is why I switched to MAC OS X and Linux.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:53pm
  
  Looser? Define your terms
  Bill Gates a looser since he's the RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD, or because he has one of the most powerful corporations in the world?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Happy User, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:43pm

Donald Trump didn't always make the correct decisions in his past, but surely he has made many correct ones. Same could be said for Microsoft. The only difference between these two in this example, is that Microsoft has performed many of it's decisions under public scrutiny. And much of the public is too ignorant (jealous?) to praise MS for it's success, but rather enjoys paying attention to it's failures.

So for all the fan-boys who enjoy bashing MS - ask yourself why you are not successful - or even well known.... such as Microsoft is, for example.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Laughing, 21 Mar 2006 @ 3:45am
  
  Re:
  Say, joust how long have you worked in Redmond?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Microsoft SUCKS!!!, 20 Mar 2006 @ 1:52pm

Ha Ha!!!
Well as I sit here at work and type on this POS that they call a DELL that has MS products on it. I tend to go and use everything that is not MS at all. I can stand M$. Biggest Damn company in the world but yet they will still go around and steal things. But goddess forbid these people release there source code or have it leak out. But hey I guess there always seems to be a M$ lover around cause they just accept the Politcs that the create.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
sickboy76, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:15pm

what the F$
okay dorks. i am sitting here sifting through your bulls#!% and the only common variable i can find between you all is that everyone who seems to bash M$ here is an outright idiot. fine, don't like M$ all you want. but when in a public forum talking about how gay they are or how lame bill is, at least don't look like the biggest drop out on the web. try and proof read what the hell you're typing. to bash someone with 3rd grade grammer and every other word spelled wrong just makes them look that much better than you. thus, defeating the purpose of even writing. anyway, who cares if they fail or not. if it's a free add listing service, what the F do you care, just don't use it. and get on with life. instead of wasting your time here bashing M$ don't you need to be finding patches and updates for your crap-ass linux box? get to work and stop waisting peoples time who would rather pay for something that works than talk crap about it on an o.s. that blows without hours of searching for the right patch.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- merror, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:22pm
  
  Re: what the F$
  Speaking of spell check... its 'grammar', genius.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Bilza, 20 Mar 2006 @ 4:36pm
    
    Re: Re: what the F$
    and "wasting," rather than "waisting."
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- anonymous coward, 20 Mar 2006 @ 3:09pm
  
  Re: what the F$
  and wasting
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 20 Mar 2006 @ 5:03pm
  
  Re: what the F$
  Your punctuation and phrasing sucks as well.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Grammar Teacher/Debate Instructor, 20 Mar 2006 @ 5:09pm
  
  Re: what the F$
  I agree with you but are you seriously criticizing the others' spelling and "grammer"? Your own writing could use a few corrections.
  
  Maybe those who enjoy M$ bashing could, in addition to using proper grammar, actually make a point instead of saying things like, "M$ is gay." Does that have something to do with the quality of their product. Why don't you just insult Bill's mother?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tyshaun, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:28pm

Who cares if they steal?
Aren't we kinda missing the point here? To me, it's not so much who's first to generate a product, but who does it the best or has the largest marketshare. Sure, in pot smoking eutopia whoever is first to market with a good idea would enjoy eternally all the accolades and financial benefits of that idea, HOWEVER, in the real world, first to market means you have about 6 months before 500 clones of your product come out and you better hope yours is the best implementation. iPod has survived not because it was one of the first to market, but because it's actually a good product that can stave off the competition. Kind of like the way we talk about patent hogs, it's not about having the patent, but what you do with it.
To Craigslist I say good luck and welcome to the game known as free market economies. May you live long enough to feast on the rotting carcass of your competition (or at least not be the main course)! BTW, just wondering why no one has asked the obvious question, why does Micosoft want into this area anyway, aside from some possible ad placement revenue? Seems like a money loser to me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Scoffo, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:41pm
  
  Re: Who cares if they steal?
  Finally someone with a valid point!!!!! you are completely right about the free market point and my best wishes to them also..
  now im not the biggest fan of Bill Gates or microsoft (thank you "pirates of silcon vally" but at the end of the day im sat here using a PC as im sure alot of the ppl that slag him are doing aswell.. food for thought ^^
  
  oh and its been my experience never slag someone for bad spelling coz its at that point u always make a spelling mistake yourself lol
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
10pound, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:31pm

yeah man you said it
the superbow is gay too
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Derek Reed, 20 Mar 2006 @ 2:49pm

The more the merrier
I for one welcome the crowded marketplace. I think the ui of expo is already far more intuitive and user friendly than google base, craiglist, or ebay. If nothing else, any ground they gain, will encourage the competetion to re-evaluate any advantages MS has here.

I mean, the use of white space is admirable. I can clearly see what region I'm viewing. I can clearly see what categories are available.

Oh yeah ... google is good, MS is bad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Get a dictionary, 20 Mar 2006 @ 3:10pm

Looser...... I thought Loser!!!
Not either.... Simply Cause he is a theft. Do your research before opening you mouth. Plus a dictionary would be helpful...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
switters, 20 Mar 2006 @ 4:05pm

jesus people~!
if you can't read or write with any modicum of reasonable grammar, please don't post. you're making our species look bad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Moogle, 20 Mar 2006 @ 4:37pm

Spread to thin? Or too much to spread?
People comment on MS spreading themselves too thin. I think the opposite might be true, however. They seem to have such an unbelievable income that they're getting diminishing returns by investing any more in devloping existing products. Adding more engineers is certainly not always the right answer, and paying them more doesn't really do much if they're already happy.

So it's actually probably more worthwhile to do silly crap like this on the off chance that it generates income. Kinda like Google, but with a much larger, more stable base. I wouldn't say they're more effective at it, but it seems to be the trend.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Why do Macs have MS Word?, 20 Mar 2006 @ 4:47pm

Somebody free me from the idiocy of those who use Macs. Sure, they are easier to use, but there is no good software for them. I have both a Mac and a PC, and ,while about 3% of products run on Macs, Apple doesn't even have its own version of Word. Every Mac I have seen has Microsoft Word. If you are going to make fun of someone, try not using their products.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
AnalogyMan, 24 Mar 2006 @ 7:09am

MS learns from mistakes
"There's also the legacy of failed business plans in the Microsoft stable that would seem to indicate they either don't want to or fail to learn from mistakes. I guess if you are made of cash it doesn't matter."

a lot of businesses have things that they have tried and failed. those that are still around succeed more than they have failed.
MS is made of cash because they have been successful over the past 25 years.
Mac hasn't been as successful, and neither has linux.
not even put together.
you can always come up with excuses, "the sun was in my eye", "they did this, they did that, I wasn't prepared..." but over 25 years M$ has shown they know their stuff better than their competitors.
sounds like there are a lot of sore second, third and 10'th place holders out there.
are they 'losers'? well, they certainly didn't come in first.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]