Microsoft Says Hey, We Can Do Social Networking Ads Too
from the look-at-us! dept
A few weeks ago, Google said MySpace had chosen it to supply the site with search technology and advertising, and it would pay a minimum of $900 million to MySpace over three years. It beat out the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft, and now MS has struck back, or tried to, by announcing what's basically a me-too deal with Facebook. Some reports have labeled the deal as "hastily arranged", and that Facebook was in talks with Google -- which makes it sound as if Microsoft just started throwing money at Facebook in an attempt to make sure it could win a deal. Sense a pattern here? Microsoft's efforts in search and advertising haven't been too successful, and rather than do anything innovative online, all it really seems to be doing is coming up with ways to copy the companies it's trailing, like Google. Of course, this sort of charge is aimed at Microsoft all the time: that it simply "steals" other people's ideas and implements them in its own products. While it could be argued that such a strategy has worked out for the company in its software, the dynamics of the internet are such that simply mimicking a competitor isn't a viable plan for success.
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
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Microsoft setals?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
err, don't be so sure
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
their practices are standard for any hugely successful company. the ones that whine about it are just the ones who have not been successful enough to do the same thing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Its not that we've seen it before, its that MSFT s
Not that I really think MSFT was ever great...maybe the stock rallied for a few years making people rich, but even then, the strategy of the company was misunderstood by everyone.....
Back in the day NO ONE understood computers or software, and Bill Gates used this to dupe millions of people to use their products in spite of the substandard design, blatant theft of ideas, and the long history of using his mommy and daddys money and contacts to get him into IBMs door, and then OUT of every legal scandal he made when he took ideas away, and met companies in court to claim he didnt steal from them, or borrow their IP.
Just as the US Govt wants to crack down on those who use drug money and stolen goods to traffic in high-life homes and cars, the users of MSFT software ought to be also scolded (or worse) for feeding the monster that Microsoft actually IS: they steal and then claim to own the software they sell......this is white collar crime at its best....and those who Paid for windows are merely pidgeons in the ploy to scam America, and the World.
Microsoft is not an Innovator, nor a creative company.....they are a bunch of smarmy lawyers and rich kids that got protection from their moms and dads, whilst beating up everyone in the neighborhood.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Please Explain
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Please Explain
I think you've misread the point we were making.
Competing is one step. The firms in Asia are competing by going out to market with their offering. Innovating and succeeding are different matters altogether, and that's done by serving your market and providing them with a better product.
Competition is good because it generally leads to efforts to offer BETTER products, not just copycat offerings.
So, what we're saying in Asia is that those firms are competing, trying to offer products on their home turf. No one was saying that they "only copy". They may copy as the basis of their product, but if they want to succeed, they need to offer something better.
That's quite in line with what we were saying here with Microsoft. if they want to *succeed* they need to offer something better. They're still competing, but that's different from innovating or succeeding.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What's that?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fast Food
[ link to this | view in chronology ]