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Microsoft Unveils Online Advertising Service

jwb4273 writes "Microsoft has released another weapon in its battle against Google. Steve Ballmer has announced today that Microsoft's web properties (MSN, Live, etc.) will no longer use Yahoo!'s advertising services, and will instead use Microsoft's new advertising platform 'adCenter'. For wanting to go in together with Yahoo, this seems like the wrong start for a good relationship."

15 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. You Can Keep Your adCenter by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Search isn't the only place where adCenter will place advertising. In the future, Microsoft said, it expects to launch ads in e-mail, the Spaces blogging program, on mobile applications, in Office and on the Xbox.com Web site.
    That's wonderful! If there's one thing I enjoy about watching television, it's when my favorite program cuts to commercials and there's a guy with an annoying voice repeating everything. Damn, I just get elated at the prospect of someone soliciting products & services to me non-stop.

    Yeah, I also like it when I'm trying to read an article and a 20mb flash application kicks up on top of what I'm trying to read telling me about Toyota's Western Washington specials. Like TFA's advertisements. That sure is awesome.

    I love turning on the radio because I'm not looking for music, I'm looking for annoying talk about some product I'm missing out on. There's nothing like nodding your head to a good advertisement of a Fat Bastard impersonator trying to get you to come to Bub's Bar & Grill.

    And now you want to make my mobile device throw random messages at me. Hey, maybe you can interrupt my personal telephone calls with advertisements from an annoying sounding person! That would be great.

    And advertising in my productivity applications! And my games! *eye twitches* That's just ... great , it really is.

    But why stop there? What boundaries does my personal life have yet that you have failed to knock down adn ignore? What about the novels I read? Can they have advertisements that cover up the words until I read them? Or maybe you could make software that injects product placement into scripts and storylines?

    In fact, I love advertisements so much, you can tattoo me and inject electrodes into my head so all I do is think about Microsoft and how badly I want the XBox 360. Yes, I would finally be able to die happy!

    If you hadn't noticed, I was being sarcastic.
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    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:You Can Keep Your adCenter by Internet+Ronin · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm just waiting for the day when I'm in the middle of sex and my condom reminds me that a wide variety of complementary lubes, toys, emergency contraceptives, massage oils, sheets, mattresses, and porn are available.

      This is of course assuming I can get laid...

    2. Re:You Can Keep Your adCenter by dougman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not to nitpick, but TFA doesn't say anything about adCenter on your games. It says "xbox.com", not xbox.

      TFA doesn't give much detail either, so I'll wait to see if it really shows up in Office. I'd be VERY surprised to see that happen. What I can imagine is a stripped down freebie version that has ads to get eyeballs and to keep folks from switching to OpenOffice.

  2. Non-IE Customers Not Wanted by Bill+Dimm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If I actually wanted to run an ad with this service, I would go to adcenter.msn.com, click the "Sign up today" link and get "Microsoft adCenter does not currently support the web browser you are using. Please sign in using Internet Explorer 6+." If I then click the "More about system requirements" link nothing happens. I guess I'll just keep my money.

  3. Microsoft is like the Karl Rove of tech... by TheNoxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only way Microsoft has to promote their inferior product has been FUD campaigns and tons of self-promotion through marketing. They don't want any allies that could be potential rivals, and that includes Yahoo. Unless they intend to buy Yahoo (like they did with Bungie and Rare), they probably don't want to support a partner in a field they could dominate themselves for more profits. The only "allies" I've seen them interested in have been PC makers, and those are more like forced partnerships than friendly cooperations.

    Go ahead, mod me down. You know I speak the truth.

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    Ex nihilo nihil fit.
  4. Still no competitor to AdSense by DaHat · · Score: 3, Informative

    While anyone with a website or blog can sign up for AdSense and add it to their page... the same cannot yet be said for adCenter as for now it is only for Microsoft (and close partner) web properties.

  5. In OFFICE? by BrianH · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oh, I can just imagine how well that's going to go over in our large site. How does MS expect to sell this to the corporate market? "Yes, MS Office is the most popular productivity suite in the world! And as an added bonus, we'll kill YOUR companies productivity by distracting all of your employees with tempting ads! Think about the boon to the economy! Instead of all those employees wasting time working for YOU, they can be promoting commerce and boosting the economy by spending their working hours shopping online!"

    Even making it easy to disable wouldn't assuage many CTO's, because there is still a productivity loss as the IT guys disable the ads. It may be simple for one, but when you have thousands of installations, sometimes spread out over multiple locations, it's going to cost real money to fix.

    The old adage "Cutting off your nose to spite your face" comes to mind here. They're going to anger the majority of their customers, just to make it look like they're "competing" with Google. MS really has fallen...they're transforming themselves from the largest software company in the world into freaking Doubleclick.

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    There is nothing so pathetic as seeing a beautiful young theory roughed up by a tough gang of facts.
  6. Information by kratei · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "AdCenter will give advertisers sophisticated information about consumers, including their location, age, gender and sometimes, their level of wealth. That's more than what Google and Yahoo! offer, said Joe Doran, senior director for monetization in Microsoft's MSN ad-planning group."

    I'm curious which of their many sources they plan to use to get this info. Will they just borrow as much personal data as they can from your windows box and plug it into their ad service? Will they "patch" windows the way other spyware companies do? Do they already have all this info? I suppose I simply don't the idea of another more invasive ad program out there, but then I suppose it won't effect me immediatly, since I never use IE.

    Oh, BTW, how would you like your job title to be "senior director for monetization." Is "monetization" even a word?

  7. They're driving YHOO price down by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They're doing this to drive down the stock price of Yahoo, so it will be easier to purchase. It's just another clever tactic when you want to exercise your monopoly power.

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    stuff |
  8. Floppingwienervision?? by mobby_6kl · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok, how the fuck can an article get tagged "floppingwienervision"?
    I can't imagine more than 2-3 people out of the whole /. horde coming up with this description, and I'm sure it takes more than that to get an article tagged.

  9. The whole HOSTS file thing... by HTL2001 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well I guess they do plan ahead... seeing as how you cannot block anything from microsoft in the hosts file as its hardcoded

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    By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
  10. First step in the Ultimate Plan by mollusk · · Score: 4, Funny

    For years, people have wondered where Microsoft was going. A seemingly endless supply of ill-conceived and contradictory decisions, failed business projects, and general mismanagement gave the impression that there was no clear corporate vision. With the satuaration of the OS and Office software market, no one knew where MS would turn next to sustain the drug of growth.

    No one except me, that is. Some said MS would go into being a conten provider. You fools. Porn sites are content providers, MS sells no porn. Others thought that Bill and Company were looking to get into the embedded device market. WTF were they smoking? Embedded devices have no need for brand names. Who cares what your VCR runs other than stinkfingered cheeto monkeys watching tapes of Enterprise frame by frame to see the T'Pol nipple shot?

    No, the future is clear. MS must take their marketing talent and money to a new market. One that is unaccustomed to the trench fighting of the Tech sector. A ripe plum. Yes, I am talking about the snack cake market.

    With the considerable leverage and investment capability, MS has the chance to swoop into the prepackaged pastry industry like Hitler into Poland. Sarah Lee is ripe for a takeover with the failure of their X-99 project of dehydrated cupcakes. With such a strong base, competitor after competitor could be gobbled up. In a few short years, there would be only one source for Coffee cakes, Twinkies, HoHo, DingDongs, Chocodiles, zingers, and snowballs.

    Think I'm crazy? Get off the smack. The signs are there. The Xbox is nothing more than an activity inhibitor. Less active children eat more cupcakes. The BSOD was a conditioning system. Once MS introduces the blue frosting on their signautre snack bites, the dollars will flow.

    This latest project is just a cover. The only ads running on the system in 10 years will be for BillBills and BalmerDogs. I just don't understand why people don't see it. Sheep.

    --
    The Revolution. Now available as a convienent six tape series from PBS.
    1. Re:First step in the Ultimate Plan by x_codingmonkey_x · · Score: 3, Funny

      Dvorak, is that you?

  11. And Clippy returns! by szrachen · · Score: 5, Funny

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  12. wth are you talking about? by jasonhamilton · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Uhhhh. How about you do some research about MS' history, then get back to us on their ability to innovate.

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