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Ballmer On Microsoft's Search Goofs
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."
Sounds like my kind of search engine!
I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
from ballmer on microsoft's goofs, to balmer acting like a goof
'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.
No need. Just use Mozilla and say, "I will make sure I never see a Microsoft ad again!"
Or _any_ ad for that matter.
'I want to make sure (a user) can't get through ... an online experience without hitting a Microsoft ad.'
That's gotta be a mood killer for people surfing pr0n.
This will solve more problems than one. Really. If Microsoft makes everyone's online experience the digital equivalent of being pestered by sales calls 24 times a day, on the hour, every hour, then maybe people like myself will turn off the computer, get up, go outside, and get some more exercise, loose weight, defeat the obesity scare, live longer and have a social life! ...or, realistically, develop better ad-blocking software.
Who am I kidding.
Though it would be funny to see what ads would pop up when searching for "Windows XP 2004 Server Keygen"
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
Search: Linux
i d= kb;en-us;314458
/ un ix/tco.asp
m l
........"
results 4
1.)http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?sc
"How to remove Linux and install WindowsXP
2.)http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/migrate
"Linux more expensive to operate then Windows"
3.)http://www.sco.com/scosource/linuxlicense.ht
"Linux contains SCO Unix intellectual property
4.)http://www.linuxsucks.com"
"Boy those guys at Microsoft sure know how to make great products
http://saveie6.com/
I want to make sure Steve Balmer can't get through a doctor's visit/border crossing/stop light without getting a full rectal exam.
BlackNova Traders
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.
REDMOND, Wash. - When Microsoft Corp. entered the Internet browser war in the 1990s, Netscape Navigator was the early leader and Microsoft's Internet Explorer the late-blooming upstart.
Now, Microsoft is gearing up for a similar brutal and pointless battle in search technology.
Chief executive Steve Ballmer conceded Thursday that one big misstep by Microsoft over the past few years is that the company did not put resources toward the 'embrace and extend' - Microsoft's term for wholesale copying and stealing - of search technology.
"That's probably the thing I feel worst about over the last few years -- not destroying a small competitor in a wave of litigation and threats," Ballmer said at a conference for online advertisers held at Microsoft's Redmond campus, as sunlight bounced off his fat bald head.
Instead, he said, the company had kind of assumed that it would be fun to wait for a while to see what ideas others came up with, before stealing them. Joking that the pervasive software giant is often stereotyped as "a bunch of blood-sucking vampires" he said: "This is a case where we didn't destroy it all -- and I wish we had."
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, in what many see as the next depressing confirmation that there is nothing that can be achieved that Microsoft won't wreck with some awful code, a stack of ripped-off eyecandy and several billion dollars worth of marketing.
"I think you'll see some blood on the wheel in this area," Ballmer said.
Ballmer mentioned the European Union (news - web sites)'s ruling against Microsoft only in passing, when asked about rumors the company may be making some big acquisitions. He said he hadn't heard that; he'd been too busy paying attention to rumors coming out of Europe, as he made bunny ears with his fingers.
The European Commission (news - web sites) slapped Microsoft with a $613 million fine Wednesday for abusively wielding its near monopoly in desktop operating systems and ordered sanctions that go well beyond the company's antitrust settlement with the United States. The company has vowed to raise an army of the undead, to destroy the continent in a reign of fire, to sow its fields with salt and leave no stone atop another, pending an appeal by its lawyers.
> Note that both news services are currently in
> beta.
The difference being:
Google will take the beta label off their service when Google News is stable and usable.
Microsoft will take the beta label off their service when Google News is stable and usable.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
thanks a lot bill for making the free market look so bad. Sheesh. To think of all the cool shit Bill Gates could do with 50 billion dollars. He could make robot servants or racing spaceships he could waste it all on scientific cool progress stuff. he could have changed the world and earned immortality. think about it, what would you do if you had that kind of potential? Would you proceed to make a grey and white arial fonted boring ass self advertising agency that tweaked powerpoint every couple years? hell no, hell no. I hope somebody in here is the next big programming marketing mogul, wouldnt surprise me. When you get done with that innovation and you are super rich... Do some some cool stuff with the money. I mean, by all means keep 10 mill in your sock drawer, but use the billions on robots. Space robots. Bill Gates could fund his own Nasa, and I wonder if he could have made a little money too
They'll probably release a MSN toolbar that is a feature-for-feature copy of the Googlebar, and automatically install it on the next Windows Update. Maybe on "accident" is uninstalls the original Google toolbar (Cough*netscape*Cough). Make all URL line searches and mistypes go to MSN, and remove the ability to choose your default search engine.
They don't have to make the "world's greatest," they just have to make something that is competitively passable, and is deeply hooked into their existing product line. The "Internet Search" in the file search bar is already inexorably linked to MSN...
The ______ Agenda
I don't want to be feeding the troll, but seriously, you don't believe this, do you? IE has a history of breaking every conceivable W3C standard as Microsoft sees fit, and it's only because of Microsoft's monopoly that they can get away with it.
Have you ever tried to make any web page look the same in IE and any other browser? Surely, the very idea of being "the most compatible" is somewhat moot if there's no point of reference. Who (or what) do you think IE is compatible with?
And concerning which browser is "the best", there's always the classic list of 101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that IE cannot.
Ballmer said Microsoft spends about 12 percent of its media budget on online advertising, and that he orders his staff to "saturate" that market first and foremost.
"I want to make sure (a user) can't get through ... an online experience without hitting a Microsoft ad," he said.'
Which is somewhat different from that implied by the submitter; rather than Microsoft wanting to dominate search space, and slapping their ads on everything, it's actually a suggestion that online advertising can be effective, and that companies should spend more of their marketing budget online.
Given the dearth of funding models for many websites, I'm amazed that people are willing to twist an attempt to get more money into advertising online as something more evil.
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.
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
Could this actually be a prelude to including some form of adware in Windows? That would certainly fill that goal he has set for Windows users...
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
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
AFAIK, they were groundbreaking leaders in bringing certain conveniences to email clients, such as double-clicking on an attachment, causing it to execute.
Prior to Microsoft, nobody had ever thought to do such [euphemisms coming up] .. inspired and visionary things. Indeed, most of their competitors still haven't dared to even try matching these features.
Another one: They got the brilliant idea of taking an Apple menu, moving it to the bottom the screen so that it's slightly slower to get to, and then moving it up by one or two pixels, so that if you slam your mouse pointer against the edge and then click, you will still manage to miss the menu, so you have to carefully adjust upwards a little, and then click, if you want to hit the hotspot. That tiny little offset of just a few pixels, is an innovation where Microsoft not only led for years, but most of their competition still hasn't matched them.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Please get off of your high horse? I sometimes moderate something as interesting or another positive mod other than funny intentionally even if the comment is only funny. This is because /. chose to not count funny mods towards Karma but people will lose points for being modded down by the humor impaired.
In this way we prevent people from burning karma for being funny.
All you seem to be doing, though, is karma-whoring and not adding anything new to the discussion at hand.
Karma? What's that again?