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Ballmer On Microsoft's Search Goofs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the at-least-that's-honest dept.

An anonymous reader writes "AP reports on CEO Steve Ballmer's regret over Microsoft's failure to get into the search market early on. Best quote? 'I want to make sure (a user) can't get through ... an online experience without hitting a Microsoft ad.' Nice to see they're still user-oriented."

16 of 487 comments (clear)

  1. Humility? by BWJones · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "I want to make sure (a user) can't get through ... an online experience without hitting a Microsoft ad," he said.

    So, does not the recent 600 some odd millions dollar fine by the EU suggest anything to these guys? The USDOJ let them off the hook, but the rest of the world is proving not to be as forgiving. Perhaps they should be a little more humble?...........Nah.

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    1. Re:Humility? by spellraiser · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Speaking of humility:

      But Microsoft is now turning its considerable might toward catching up. It's a move that puts Microsoft head to head with Google, the world's most popular Web surfing vehicle, and Yahoo, the Internet's most popular destination ...

      Interesting choice of words... probably has nothing to do with where this story is posted, huh?

      --
      I hear there's rumors on the Slashdots
    2. Re:Humility? by Blitter · · Score: 4, Insightful
      So, does not the recent 600 some odd millions dollar fine by the EU suggest anything to these guys?

      $600 million is about 1% of their cash reserve, from what I understand. So, no, it wouldn't suggest anything to me at all if I was them. Just part of the cost of doing business, trivially affordable.

      --
      I am Jack's writable stack pointer.
  2. They will fail. by James+A.+M.+Joyce · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'I want to make sure (a user) can't get through ... an online experience without hitting a Microsoft ad.'

    And that is exactly why MSN Search will never be bigger than Google.

    BTW, timothy, just so you know - when inserting a clarifying phrase into a quote, one encloses it in square brackets and not normal brackets.

    1. Re:They will fail. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, but... Heaven help my soul, but Google is the _first_ time I've ever seen advertising that is actually useful and relevant to me, and it is clearly marked as advertising. Google is advertising done right, at least at the moment.

  3. Dealing with the Devil by erick99 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Microsoft probably can come up with the worlds greatest search engine. Then, they will do what they always do after they decimate and then dominate a market - ignore it. Whatever the state-of-art is for search engines will be frozen in time once it belongs to Microsoft. You can pay them now or pay them later....

    Happy Trails!

    Erick

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
    1. Re:Dealing with the Devil by metlin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I can see where you are coming from, but the thing is that the Search Engine market is not like other markets.

      MS slacked off when it comes to browsers, and Mozilla is surely catching up.

      Search is a technology that has universal benefits - and it is a technology where there can be only one, not more. Therefore, *if* Microsoft came to the top and slacked off, they will not stay there for long.

      Google is not like other search engines from earlier times - they are good at searching, and thats their primary focus - they are not trying to go the portal way that spelt the deathknell for several engines of the days bygone.

      So, even if MSFT did come to the top, searching is an area where they will have to stay on top - or pay the price for it.

      To be honest - as much as I like Google, may the best engine win :-)

  4. Re:Hah! by halivar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No need. Just use Mozilla and say, "I will make sure I never see a Microsoft ad again!"

    Or _any_ ad for that matter.

  5. Microsoft and innovation/market awareness by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Apart from the wheely mouse (which I think HP invented), I can't think of *any* technologies that Microsoft got into early on. They missed TCP/IP, networking in general, the net (and the browser), etc.

    Of their successes, with the honorable exception of their OS (copied from DR and then Apple) and their office suites (which they copied from, was it Lotus?), it's all been dubious business practices... Very successful company though they are, they are in no way innovative. Innovative isn't necessary for a monopolist position, and in fact is a bad business strategy - you might waste loads of cash, and you've got nothing to lose by preserving the status quo...

    So it's just pure 100% Balmer, again...

    Simon

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:Microsoft and innovation/market awareness by gclef · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Honestly, leading in innovation is not the way to win in business. You want to be *second* to market (maybe even third or fourth) with any new idea, but not first. Why? Because anyone who actually *leads* will always make mistakes, since they're trying something no one has done before. Someone following behind can take the idea, fix a few things people complain about, and make it their own. It's cheaper to develop, cheaper to market, and cheaper to train, since the users already know what you're trying to make, and will be happy to see you making something "better" than your competitors.

      I hate to sound cynical, but in any market where someone follows this strategy, the real innovators will either patent everything, or get screwed.

  6. Forgot to add.. by sik0fewl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's no wonder they're behind in the search engine wars. Nobody wants to be intruded with ads they don't care about. I shouldn't get an ad for the newest version of Office when I'm looking up one of my favorite bands. And if I do get that ad I don't want it to be bigger and placed in front of my search results.

    --
    I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
  7. Sad thing is... by aduzik · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Just like with the browser war, the sad thing is that most users won't know how to change the default search page, or even that they can/should do it.

    IE became the most popular browser primarily because you couldn't avoid it on any installation of Windows. Netscape, by contrast, you had to download, install, and -- in theory -- pay for.

    Many Windows users will think it's too much to type in google.com and hit enter before they do a search, so Microsoft will once again use its monopoly to ruin a great product. Just like IE. Just like Windows Media. Just like Office. Just like Windows itself.

    Remember, Microsoft's OS monopoly is so undermining precisely because Windows is the only thing most of the great unwashed computer users will ever see, and Microsoft controls what they see on that Windows computer. Well let's enjoy Google while it's still in business :-(

    --
    If it's not one thing it's your mother.
  8. Totally out of context by UnrefinedLayman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The quote in the blurb is taken totally out of context. It's presented as a way to convince the reader that Microsoft intends to do the following:

    1.) Create a search engine that will be popular enough to rival Google.
    2.) Create a method of forcing users to view unending advertisements each time they search, click, blink, etc.
    3.) Profit unendingly.

    What Ballmer was referring to was the amount of money Microsoft spends on advertising. He was using hyperbole to explain that many companies only spend 1% of their budget on advertising, and they should bring that up to 4-5%. He then said that when he gives money to his advertising people, he wants them to spend a metric shitload of it on online advertising, thus when people browse the web, even if they're not visiting Microsoft sites, they see Microsoft advertising.

    He's not talking about abusing their own search engine to display ads but rather about spending their own money on advertising in the hopes it will net them more money.

    That's not to say that I don't believe Microsoft deliberately manipulates their current search results and will continue to do so in the future in whatever incarnation their search engine may take, and it's not to say that I don't think Microsoft is a horrible company that breaks the law as much and as far as they can and that they need to be broken up in order to stop them from abusing the market any further, and finally it's not to say that they're not contributing to the downfall of capitalism and democracy and society as it is known for much of the Western world, but Jesus, if you're going to play ball, play fair. Only companies like Microsoft play unfair, and that's fucking wrong , and you can't say out one side of your mouth "Microsoft isn't playing fair!" and say out the other "Steve Ballmer rapes horses, with the dead bodies of children!"

    Don't try to subvert truth like some neocon on a power trip.

  9. They should fix XP's search function first by adamshelley · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the 7 billion they plan to spend on search technology, I hope they spend some money on fixing win XP's search within file option. For me, it sporatically works. I often have to use a windows 2000 box over the network to search an XP drive in order to "search within file".

  10. XFree86? by Anonymous+Slacker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I saw the title "Microsoft's Search Goofs" I naively thought they might be apologizing for deliberately redirecting any searches for "xfree86" to porn.
    Alas, I was not surprised to learn that they just want to send MORE ads our way.

    MS has a long way to go before they can build a search engine that replaces Google in my regular use, especially if one of the main features of said engine is to send as many Microsoft ads at the consumer as possible. I use Google for its effectiveness and minimalistic site design. No popups, obtrusive banner ads, or flash ads to piss me off.

    --
    "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!" -Rush
  11. Search Engines by Trillian_Angel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Honestly, I almost think it is a good thing that Microsoft is joining the search engine fray. I have several reasons for this, but primarily, the first one is that search engine technology has seemed a big stagnant. Take Google, for example. With a great many websites participating in feeding search engines Spider Food, it is more difficult to find results that actually match what you are looking for. If microsoft manages to boost this, and cause a stream of activity in fixing these issues by providing a high powered level of competition, then I think its great.

    Now, this does not mean I am advidly supporting Microsoft. This just means I'm supporting the addition of another wild card to the search engine battles that might have some good come out of it.

    I certainly hope so at anyrate, as using Google gets to be more difficult with each passing day.

    --
    -- RJ