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Microsoft and Time Warner Team Up Against Google
PlayfullyClever wrote to mention a Reuters report on an online advertising deal between Microsoft and Time Warner. The two companies are teaming up to take on Google's advertising network. From the article: "The [WSJ] said the two companies were now focusing on a deal that would combine their advertising-related assets, with little or no money changing hands. It said they expected to reach an agreement before the end of the year, but that it was still possible that Time Warner's America Online unit could strike a deal with competitor Google instead."
I'm not sure why these people get so many articles posted. They are quite up front about who they are / what they do. I guess Zonk likes to reward honesty ;-)
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
but how you promote those assets is entirely another. The combo of MS+Time warner AOL would indeed be formidable, if that is they learn how to target advertising in the way that google has, and to work with the viewer, not harangue them with flashing banners. Of course it's not hard to take a page from the good google book and emulate its successes. Of course as it's suggested if this deal does happen google stands to loose a great deal of revenue as AOL would no longer use Google to provide their search services. This might proove to be more damaging than any competition in advertising, because as has been seen google thrives just as much when in competition as when forging ahead in new directions.
Promote Charity on Myspace, Show Your Colours!
That's not business...it's personal.
Though I must admit Sony has raised the bar so much it's hard to hate MS with a passion anymore. Compared to Sony, MS is pretty good.
Two big, bloated companies, where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing (ever), combining to take on a small-ish, smart, fast moving company like Google (that happens to have gobs of cash to fund their wildest dream).
I don't think anything will happen, other than a bunch of money being spent.
If they really wanted to compete, they would hire a bunch of really bright people, form a new company for them to work at, with a new independent management team, and money to spend. Let them go after Google using the best tools and technologies, and then give them an instant market by using whatever they come up with at Microsoft/AOL/TimeWarner.
What would keep AOL and MSN from changing their nameservice records for www.google.com to search.msn.com instead?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Got quite a few family members who use AOL, and they _ALL_ hit Google as soon as they need to search for something, bypassing the AOL default searching mechanism.
They like its simplicity and the fact that it's pretty good about giving them something close to what they were looking for, even with some of the weirdest keyword queries I've seen.
Anecdotal, I know, but don't rule out Google's mindshare even among the technically incompetent.
Why is Google successful?
Trust.
Google appear to put the user first. Indeed, that's where they started, building a search engine to help people. Money came later (and haven't they done well?).
Microsoft and Time Warner started with wanting to make money. That comes - and, more to the point, feels as though it comes - way before the user.
And we don't trust them.
Google ads rely on advertisers (the person with the ad, and the person with the ad space) trusting them to put the right ads in the right place. Google does - and everyone makes money. Trust, trust trust - the foundation stone of trade.
But who would trust Microsoft and Time Warner to do that?
"Cats like plain crisps"