Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?

Posted by Zonk on from the is-that-anything-like-the-lime-in-the-coconut dept.

theodp writes "The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted advertising as 'part of the OS.' Microsoft, who once teamed with law enforcement to protect consumers from unwanted advertising, goes on to boast that the invention can 'take steps to verify ad consumption,' be used to block ads from competitors, and even sneak a peek at 'user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, [and] computer status messages' to deliver more tightly targeted ads."

1 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Google already does this by Andrew+Tanenbaum · · Score: 0, Troll

    The trollish submitter demonizes Microsoft, saying that "[Microsoft] goes on to boast that the invention can 'take steps to verify ad consumption,' be used to block ads from competitors, and even sneak a peek at 'user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, [and] computer status messages' to deliver more tightly targeted ads."

    But Google does ALL this when you use their services. What's the big difference between using a web app and a local app?