Memo Outlines Microsoft's Plans

conq wrote to mention a BusinessWeek article that covers some of Microsoft's upcoming web plans. From the article: "Live.com, Microsoft's customizable search-oriented portal, has more than 3 million users and the second-highest Net Promoter score -- a metric showing how many users would recommend the site to others -- of all MSN.com properties, writes Cole. That's good news, since the Live.com portal is the entry point for the first release of its Windows Live Search, the site through which Microsoft hopes to make the big bucks through paid search. Microsoft on Mar. 8 unveiled a slew of features aimed at letting users personalize the way they search the Web."

Comments

Poorly disguised shill.

[ozmanjusri]

That article is nothing more than a Microsoft press release. This sort of garbage "informercial" is why blogging is gaining credibility over traditional journalism.

A press release is a press release

[wombatmobile]

David Cole, a Microsoft senior vice-president, outlined progress and key objectives for Windows Live in a memo obtained by BusinessWeek Online.

"Memo"? Sounds like some hucksters press release to me. I don't know who Businessweek thinks its is kidding by calling these pronouncements from Redmond anything other than a PR statement.

"And I can assure you the onslaught of upcoming Windows Live services will place us in a strong competitive position and will reestablish our leadership in the industry."

Businessweek and Slashdot pretend that's "news" because...

Anyone want to take a guess?

dead.com

[FishandChips]

When I tried live.com (Firefox on Debian) I clicked on the Safety Center widget hoping for some hot tips but got this message instead: "Oops, we seem to be having a problem with this feed. Please try again later.". I then tried their "Live" searchbox at the top of the page but after a minute of staring at a white screen which just said "Loading ..." I gave up. After that I clicked on tabs which said "News" and "Images" but these also produced a entirely blank if quite restful white screen.

Good to see that things worked just as one would expect from MS. Naturally I would unhesitatingly recommend live.com - my small contribution to Micosoft's prodigious "Net Promoter" score. When folks get back to me saying live.com doesn't work, I'll be suggesting they another website and, preferably, try Mac OS or Ubuntu as well.

Paid search?

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse my ignorance, but paid for by whom? Is that why a picture search for "titties" is blocked by live.com? People going to have to pay to get the good stuff?

Re:Live.com

[bbzzdd]

It used to belong to Live Networks Inc (check Wayback). They are a vendor of streaming media tools. They had the domain since at least 1998.

Huh???

[dskoll]

Live.com doesn't even work for me. I'm trying Firefox 1.5 on Debian, and when I enter a search term, all I get is "Loading..." and nothing else.

Has anyone actually made it work under Firefox on Linux?

Business as Usual

[thunderpaws]

Paid "press release" infomercials like this are business as usual for Microsoft. Nothing new in the MS business model except some names, terminology, and so-called "new" technologies. The sense I get from my customers, co-workers, and overall tone of discussions, bolgs and forums, etc. is an incredible lack of excitement in anything Microsoft related. The article left me with a feeling that MS is scrambling to catch up while trying to strike a spark of enthusiasm in a world that is growing more and more skeptical on a daily basis.

Good ole MSOFT

[JRGhaddar]

Live.com (as it appears to me) is just an attempt at copying everything that is popular on the web. A Favorites Section ala del.icio.us (yahoo), Personalized Simple Desktop that the user can Customize (this has been around, but google made it simple) Mail / IM integration (Google/Yahoo feature)

I don't see anything as new except for the "Security Center" which obviously will be some antispyware/malware/virus thing, however I don't necessarily consider MS the authorities on security but more like the person who left the window unlocked in the first place.

The hook for Microsoft is obviously vista. This portal thing is going to communicate directly with every user (Similar to Google Desktop). Vista will also do everything to guide the user into using that site as an extension of the O.S. The new IE will make sure of that. Makes sense that Microsoft Office Online will probably be integrated somehow into this system as well.

I do think that this is a dramatic improvement for MS, and they are catching up quickly; but they don't want to take the lead. They like exactly where they are.

FTFA: One such service is a click-per-call capability that will let users connect to businesses via Web-based calls by clicking on MSN search links. Sources tell BusinessWeek Online that the capability will be unveiled the week of Mar. 13.

Another example of following google's lead.

This really a great example of a Drafting Marketing Strategy. It's been no secret that MS lets others innovate, and quietly absorbs all of their breakthroughs and then corners the market with their massive resources. Firefox being another in a long list of victims from this strategy.

the clue is in the techno marketing babel

[rs232]

"Make no mistake, Windows Live is our strategic bet to change the game and win .."

translation: We can't win on technology so we are going to change the rules.

'Windows Live Local search.. "is surpassing our competition with industry-leading technology"'

translation: We produce industry-leading technology despite the fact that we are playing catchup with Google and our sucessive desktop product adds little to the user experience.

"Over the next 3-6 months, we'll ship more innovative technology into the marketplace than during our entire 10-year history,"

translation: We actually shipped innovative technology in the past ten years. At least we'de like to pollute the record with this wish-fulfillment fantasy.

"I know we've spent the last few years coming from behind, but we've truly turned a huge corner," Cole says. "

I thought that corners only came in obtuse and acute angles. How can you logically be coming from behind while turning a huge corner. Why is a marketing blurb worthy of mention on slashdot?

Net promoter score

[AnotherDaveB]

I'd never heard of a "Net promoter score", so I asked Google, and it pointed me to another Businessweek article.

...companies measure customer loyalty by asking one simple question rather than relying on lengthy satisfaction surveys: "On a scale of zero to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend us to your friends or colleagues?"

"net promoter scores," ... [are] ... the difference between the percentage of customers who give high responses ("promoters") and those who give low ones ("detractors"),