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Microsoft Backing Off Spamming

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-isn't-that-nice dept.

David G wrote in to say that Microsoft plans to revise the spamming "Feature" that we mentioned yesterday on Slashdot after all the criticism. My favorite quote from this article is "We got a rude awakening today and we thought ... 'Let's make this clearer for the consumers'"

7 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. CNET at it too? by Ralph+Bearpark · · Score: 5

    Notice the "Email to a friend" link at the end of that CNET story? Wouldn't it be great idea if you could email the story to everyone in your contacts list, huh? They could even add a bit at the end about what a great news source CNET is too.

    (Hey, this is such a great idea someone should patent it!)

    Regards, Ralph.

  2. The only way MS can eliminate the BSOD: by AFCArchvile · · Score: 4
    ...by replacing it with a RED screen of death. This would be similar to Microsoft replacing the "General Protection Fault" in Windows 3.1 with the "Fatal Exception Error" in Windows 95.

    My favorite BSOD is a strange one in Windows 2000 during startup: "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA". How is that possible? If a memory space is not paged yet, then how can it have a page fault? Shouldn't it then be a "non-page fault"?

    --
    "Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
  3. See... by lalas · · Score: 4

    bitchin' and moaning on /. does make a difference!! ;)

  4. feedback by macpeep · · Score: 4

    Wow.. Glad to see feedback actually helps. I've seen more of that lately really and it makes me happy.

    Mozilla dropped the old renderer in favor of Raport (later NGLayout, later Gecko) and XPFE. Then they dropped Modern in favor of "Modern/2".. Then they made Classic the default skin.. All of these were based on public feedback and discussions.

    I remember reading somewhere that Microsoft have had book authors come in and spend time with "next generation" versions of MS Word to give feedback about new features. That's absolutely excellent - I wish more companies would do stuff like that - and why not open source projects too.

    Maybe there's some hope after all.

  5. Microsoft's problem by Veteran · · Score: 5
    The single biggest problem at Microsoft as a corporation is this: nobody has yelled at Bill Gates in 20 years.

    When you get in a position of power and success you lose contact with reality; the main part of what you are doing is working so well that you begin to believe that you have uncovered the 'secret to life' ( (C) Microsoft Inc. 1980 - 2000), and that therefore, everything you are doing is right. What is so dangerous for Gates is that he literally has billions of reasons to think he has everything figured out.

    This is a common problem for successful people. Ego's spring from misunderstanding; if you are successful at something and you don't understand the reasons that you are successful, you are primed for developing an inflated ego. Your brain starts trying to understand why you are successful, and the only thing it can come up with is "Well, I must be hot shit!" Once the brain arrives at that conclusion it begins to act to protect that theory, and Ego problems ensue.

    The only person I have ever heard of who had a good solution for success induced fat headedness was General Curtis LeMay - the creator of the Strategic Air Command in the United States. LeMay was a judo player, and he had strict orders for his training partner, an air force sergeant, to pound the General on the judo mat anytime LeMay started to get full of himself. This kept LeMay in touch with reality - and kept his from getting too crazy.

    If Microsoft is to improve as a company, someone needs to hold Bill Gates nose to a CRT screen and show him reality; that Microsoft often produces really crappy products, and that their business practices seem to have sprung from a contract signed in blood with someone named B. Elzebub.

  6. Ok, I'll bite... by Booker · · Score: 4
    Don't feed the trolls, yadda yadda.... but:

    So why is spam any different? It isn't is the answer. In fact, spam is if anything superior to traditional advertising channels because it costs the originating company nothing...

    Ok, there's a nice contradiction. Spam is different, because it costs the target of the ad, not the sender. "Just delete it" is often the answer, but I don't agree with that. I shouldn't have to put up with it.

    How would you like it if someone snuck over to your house at night and used watercolors to paint a big 10' x 5' ad for Coke on the side of it? "Hey, it washes right of... and besides, that's what you like to drink, anyway, right?" - and that's OK?

    ---

  7. remember why ? by cluge · · Score: 4
    Remember MSN's goal is to move people off from the POP3 servers to a web based e-mail. This gives MSN more eyes viewing their web pages and also keeps mail stored on MS owned servers. This has 3 advatages for MSN

    • Increased revenue through web-page adverts (web adverts on your MUA aren't spam are they??)
    • Decreased load from POP3 servers (don't have to make NT survive another mellissa type virus???)
    • Causes customers to rely on MSN's servers more. Mail is no longer stored locally, but on the remote server.
    • This also makes searching said e-mail for patterns, spam or illegal software easier.

      If I was a MSN customer I'd be pissed! As a consumer I'm just worried.

    --
    "Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.