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Details of Microsoft's New Analytics Tool Leaked
hhavensteincw writes "Details of Microsoft's answer to Google's Analytics have leaked online. Screenshots have been posted on the Net of the new "Gatineau" Web analytics tool that Microsoft now says will be available in beta this summer. In a blog post, Microsoft's Ian Thomas also reveals that Microsoft will use Live ID (formerly Microsoft Passport) profiles to get its demographic data."
It wasn't "leaked", a word which gives it an aura of mystery it doesn't deserve. This is basically a press release, people! It's not like it's some big secret. The first time a corporation opens the kimono and shows off the latest new Microsoft ePenis it grew isn't a "leak". Stop it! Just stop abusing this. You're doing their marketing work for them!
Viper is the preferred editor of the Emacs operating system.
I admit that those are some cool looking graphs, but considering Microsoft's past experience with collecting XP, Zune, and Vista sales numbers, I dont know if I want to rely on them collecting any numbers that my business might just have to rely on.. That is just me, though... :-)
Or does microsoft rename all of their technologies when they realize how stale and unmarketable they are? Like OLE / ActiveX / DirectX, winfx / .net, microsoft messenger / windows messenger / msn messenger / windows live! messenger, others that I can't think of .... ... and now Passport > Live ID? Will Balmer change his name next?
Is it just me, or do Microsoft seem to not really innovate anymore?
...and now they feel the need to branch into all possible markets under the sun I'm getting kind nervous about their next move whatever it might be.
(if they ever did, yes I can see that one coming)
Everything I have seen in the last few years (Aero, Zune, Search) seems more of a copy of other peoples innovation and hard work. Call me naive but thats not what I would call innovation, more like skimming the results of other peoples marketing and work.
I only ask as this article was posted as "MS answer to Google's" and I'm seeing this an awful lot in the last few years....
Anyone using a Livespace, anyone with an Xbox Live account (pretty sure about that one, not entirely however), almost anyone on any forum for a company owned by Microsoft (Bungie, for example), and the list goes on.
Interestingly - or perhaps ironically - what is now the city of Gatineau used to be known as Hull. It sits directly across the Ottawa River from, well, Ottawa. The name was changed to something more palatable to the separatist Parti Québecois government. Hull's bars used to close two hours later than their Ottawa counterparts, so it was quite common to hear drunken revellers shouting, "I'll see you in Hull!" Workmates showing up hung-over were often told, "You look like you've been to Hull and back." Worse still, when Ottawa started up a rickshaw service, people claimed it was now possible to go to Hull in a hand cart.
Of this new service, therefore, I will only say: The road to Hull is paved with good intentions.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
(1) IE already "reports" back your search results for any URL you type in without "http://" (and according to some rumors/posts, IE7 does this with ALL URLs to verify the site isnt a phishing site).
(2) With their LiveID information (which can easily be tied to the above mentioned browsing habits via IE - as well as Vista's reporting to home tools), they have a decent amount of information on you to tie to your "browsing habits"
(3) EVERY MS Internet property states in the EULA that they have the right to use ANY content you send/upload/store on their service - and share with their "partners" as well - and sell for that matter.
(4) Combine all of these, and MS isn't doing web analytics in the fashion the term already means. They are simply logging ALL of your (IE) surfing habits, tying that to the identifiable information they already have on file for you (assuming you have a Dead-ID account - and possibly even if you dont - if you've activated/registered their software), and scanning your uploaded/stored/sent documents (emails, stuff on any other MS property) to collect information and then sell it to their advertising "partners".
(5) If it weren't for their EULA, this would not be legal. Of course, who is to say that their EULA is legal anyway? I still want to see that be dragged through court.
Normally web analytics does not include parsing your private information (in emails, posts, ALL surfing habits, etc), and using your (given thinking it would be safe) personally identifiable information (via Live-ID, Vista registration, etc) to provide services to others for the purposes of marketing and/or spamming. Unfortunately, the term still applies as it is a form of web-analytics... just in the worst, privacy violating way.
The real thing that should be debated here is how to prevent this - not whether or not their software/service will be good or not. Frankly, with all the information they are privy to, it is hard to see how even MS could mess this up - so that all is a moot point.
The potential for "private" information being used to (a) profile you, (b) make money off of you (by selling that info to someone else you dont want to have it), and/or (c) spam to you in the most personal way (considering they know far more about "you" via your surfing habits) - that's the scary part that should be discussed here.
At least I think so...
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
"Everything you need...."
Then maybe you can tell me how to have an Analytics profile that conglomerates all of the data from my subdomains into an 'overall' format (i.e. Not just adding hits/users, but doing the math on unique users to the entire domain)
So far, I've not been able to accomplish this..
[DISCLAIMER: This post is a work of satire and should not be misconstrued as a holy text upon which to base a religion.]