They have - well, three now - but for most of the development period, only two developers.
Saying "It doesn't work in my browser!" may be factually accurate, but it ignores the fact that this isn't even a BETA. Hell, it's not even an aplha - merely an "incubation project" that's being gradually tweaked and changed rapidly.
I suppose I'd expect Slashdot to seize on any minor error for a Microsoft page. Still, where's the perspective on what is important and not gone? You don't bash a Beta product for having bugs. Generally.
FYI - it doesn't import OPML files correctly? I imported my RSS feeds from OPML into http://www.start.com/3 recently, and it worked perfectly. Granted, I only have around 400 feeds, but even so. Folders, feeds, etc worked perfectly. I know http://www.start.com/1 imported them flat, which was intensely annoying.
Two MSN employees created a prototype - playing around - and were then assigned to do it full time. They have a number of interesting revolutions in MSN development, such as rapid roll-out of new features, and a high level of communication with their users.
A third has since joined them. I'm not sure who s/he is. Presumeably, they wanted to join and the team needed the manpower.
Note: the two team members with identified names are Steve and Sanaz. Perhaps people will want to call them out by name...
This is a perfect example of why Slashdot has reached new lows.
First of all, this story - though not exactly "this" story - has been on Slashdot before.
Second, let's take a moment to review the Slashdot comments with the facts.
Here's the basic timeline:
A small team at Microsoft releases http://start.com/1 March 6th, 2005. This is a first-generation web-based RSS aggregator, quite slick with AJAX.
The same team releases http://start.com/2 on April 6th, 2005. It's an interesting take on a "bookmar manager." It supports automatic importaing of IE favorites. Later, OPML support is added for other users.
The Start team releases the third version - http://start.com/3 - on June 6th, 2005. This supports a far nicer version of the first page, although it does not incorporate the bookmark manager ideas of the second site. They tweak it weekly, sometimes daily, over the coming months (and continue to do so).
Now, the Start.com/3 site is being Slashdotted as a competitor to Google's Homepage. It is, naturally. However, it seems the person who submitted the document neglected to do any basic research, such as looking up the BLOG of the Start.com team: http://spaces.msn.com/members/startcom/ Now, this blog is referenced in the "Staff Picks" section of the Start.com/3 page, as well as easily located via Google.
This now means a horde of Slashdot people visit the site, and then say that MSN is "copying" Google. Now, I'm afraid that this is simply incorrect. Most likely, there is simply a convergence of ideas. "Brilliant minds think alike", so to speak. However, if you want to resort to the childish claims of "He copied me!", then I am afraid that Google is clearly copying the Start pages, down to the layout and javascript. The Start team has added features, and recently added support for OPML import of feeds. And yes, you didn't guess it, EXPORT OF FEEDS into an OPML file.
What happened to MSN's evil "stickiness" policy?!?! My god! And you can't do the same with the Google page.
I've been following the development of Start.com for quite a while - since the first intiative gained some media attention in late March/early April. Of course, the fact that it spread around the blogosphere and was nifty had nothing to do with Google releasing a version of its customized homepage in late May. Realistically, it actually DID have NOTHING to do with it, and was an element of an overall strategy. However, I'm sure - as this so plainly shows - that had Microsoft released Start.com two months after Google released their Personalized Home Page (and with less features), they'd receive a huge number of "OMG YOU TOTALLY COPIED!" comments.
I suspect I shouldn't be astonised at how Slashdot has reacted to this article. But, really, if you're going to post something - at least make sure what you post is TRUE. This PARTICULARLY applies to the Editors; explain to me why they didn't at least FACT-CHECK this article first? Isn't that supposed to be what editors DO?
The truth IS important, despite what you see on television today.
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps you also noticed that it was an alphabetically ordered list?
Really. Why would some developers at Microsoft go to the trouble of placing "Microsoft" above "Google" for no reason?
It's one thing to call Microsoft evil, it's quite another to call them stupid.
You are indeed correct.
They have - well, three now - but for most of the development period, only two developers.
Saying "It doesn't work in my browser!" may be factually accurate, but it ignores the fact that this isn't even a BETA. Hell, it's not even an aplha - merely an "incubation project" that's being gradually tweaked and changed rapidly.
I suppose I'd expect Slashdot to seize on any minor error for a Microsoft page. Still, where's the perspective on what is important and not gone? You don't bash a Beta product for having bugs. Generally.
FYI - it doesn't import OPML files correctly? I imported my RSS feeds from OPML into http://www.start.com/3 recently, and it worked perfectly. Granted, I only have around 400 feeds, but even so. Folders, feeds, etc worked perfectly. I know http://www.start.com/1 imported them flat, which was intensely annoying.
Ah, yes, something I forgot to mention. :-)
Two MSN employees created a prototype - playing around - and were then assigned to do it full time. They have a number of interesting revolutions in MSN development, such as rapid roll-out of new features, and a high level of communication with their users.
A third has since joined them. I'm not sure who s/he is. Presumeably, they wanted to join and the team needed the manpower.
Note: the two team members with identified names are Steve and Sanaz. Perhaps people will want to call them out by name...
This is a perfect example of why Slashdot has reached new lows.
0 7&tid=217&tid=1
3 2&tid=217
First of all, this story - though not exactly "this" story - has been on Slashdot before.
Second, let's take a moment to review the Slashdot comments with the facts.
Here's the basic timeline:
A small team at Microsoft releases http://start.com/1 March 6th, 2005. This is a first-generation web-based RSS aggregator, quite slick with AJAX.
The same team releases http://start.com/2 on April 6th, 2005. It's an interesting take on a "bookmar manager." It supports automatic importaing of IE favorites. Later, OPML support is added for other users.
Google releases their personalized home page - http://www.google.com/ig - on or just before May 22nd, 2005. The Slashdot story is here: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/23/00222
The Start team releases the third version - http://start.com/3 - on June 6th, 2005. This supports a far nicer version of the first page, although it does not incorporate the bookmark manager ideas of the second site. They tweak it weekly, sometimes daily, over the coming months (and continue to do so).
Google updated their personalized page on or just before July 26th, 2005. The Slashdot story is here: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/26/12402
Now, the Start.com/3 site is being Slashdotted as a competitor to Google's Homepage. It is, naturally. However, it seems the person who submitted the document neglected to do any basic research, such as looking up the BLOG of the Start.com team: http://spaces.msn.com/members/startcom/ Now, this blog is referenced in the "Staff Picks" section of the Start.com/3 page, as well as easily located via Google.
This now means a horde of Slashdot people visit the site, and then say that MSN is "copying" Google. Now, I'm afraid that this is simply incorrect. Most likely, there is simply a convergence of ideas. "Brilliant minds think alike", so to speak. However, if you want to resort to the childish claims of "He copied me!", then I am afraid that Google is clearly copying the Start pages, down to the layout and javascript. The Start team has added features, and recently added support for OPML import of feeds. And yes, you didn't guess it, EXPORT OF FEEDS into an OPML file.
What happened to MSN's evil "stickiness" policy?!?! My god! And you can't do the same with the Google page.
I've been following the development of Start.com for quite a while - since the first intiative gained some media attention in late March/early April. Of course, the fact that it spread around the blogosphere and was nifty had nothing to do with Google releasing a version of its customized homepage in late May. Realistically, it actually DID have NOTHING to do with it, and was an element of an overall strategy. However, I'm sure - as this so plainly shows - that had Microsoft released Start.com two months after Google released their Personalized Home Page (and with less features), they'd receive a huge number of "OMG YOU TOTALLY COPIED!" comments.
I suspect I shouldn't be astonised at how Slashdot has reacted to this article. But, really, if you're going to post something - at least make sure what you post is TRUE. This PARTICULARLY applies to the Editors; explain to me why they didn't at least FACT-CHECK this article first? Isn't that supposed to be what editors DO?
The truth IS important, despite what you see on television today.