Slashdot Log In
Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:11 PM
from the is-that-anything-like-the-lime-in-the-coconut dept.
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."
Related Stories
[+]
Your Rights Online: Microsoft Patents the Mother of All Adware 378 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has an article on the mother of all adware patents filed by Microsoft: 'It's such a tremendously bad idea that it's almost bound to succeed. Microsoft has filed another patent, this one for an "advertising framework" that uses "context data" from your hard drive to show you advertisements and "apportion and credit advertising revenue" to ad suppliers in real time.' Ars discusses this disturbing concept, which was originally unearthed by Information Week and we first discussed last week."
[+]
Games: PSP-Slim Hands On 121 comments
fistfullast33l writes "PSPFanboy, a Joystiq blog, has a great closeup of the new PSP redesign. Photos show the old PSP and the new PSP side by side. Modifications include adding more RAM (up to 64MB), extended battery life, a new UMD loading door, removal of the IR port (Sony really hates infrared), and a redesigned headphone jack to support video output. Sony confirmed that you will be able to play movies and games through the video out, but the games can only be viewable via component, not composite cables. Also, 0okm has some nice pictures of the new PSP internals as well as a manual snapshot showing button layout (the wireless switch was moved) and TV out information." Gamasutra has the news that the slim-line is due out on September 20th in Japan.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 359 comments
(Spill at 50!) | Index Only
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://itsbeenconfirmed.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday May 04 2003, @02:33AM)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sweet! MS did something good for once.
I'm sure they didn't mean to.
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://kamthaka.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday March 30 2005, @03:18PM)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.underachievement.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday January 21 2007, @10:58PM)
Funniest thing on Slashdot so far today (even if it is only 01:30), but I would have thought General Protection Fault outranks the Colonel
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:4, Insightful)
-matthew
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.planethalflife.com/hlwf)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Interesting)
So what's going to happen to those who use the nasty online services (dial-up, I think) which already bombard users with ads -- to offset the discount?
Ads on top of ads.
We've gone from sick browsers which supported popup crap, popunder, multiple flashing GIFs on the same web pages (ads). Spam - in many forms.
I can understand ads supporting TV shows -- that's how it stays inexpensive.
So they expect people to pay for these ads but MS isn't going to give a discount. They just don't have to create, sell, and support what I call "Pass the Hat" releases (see Win98 SE and ME) in order to generate money.
This only seals Microsoft's fate as a second-rate software provider.
They've always said they displaced IBM and someone else will replace them, but they aren't going quietly. They still care about being #1, but more importantly, their ultimate fear is in not setting or inventing standards and staying ahead of everyone else.
Only support some versions of HTML but add other features which they state others have to abide by. They weren't HTML-compliant and fill in the tags (or closed them) which people have overlooked. That meant proofreading the things which were IE-only in Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox.[1] They appear to have ignored all of the support of RSS but create their interpretation of the features they want to without regard to what everyone else wants (or supports).
Some media have asserted there are tens (some say hundreds) of thousands of Win2K running in business/corporate settings. Win2K/Office 2000/VS6.0 is probably the most stable of a combination of those three things which Microsoft has produced -- honestly, no matter what you're thinking without a C&C warning.
Businesses don't want to change and see no reason to do so: the hardware they have runs okay, the software is a known evil and things are as stable as they are able to manage. Move to XP or Vista, and it's start all over. New hardware (across the board), new training (especially technical people), new bugs, new support, new everything. Microsoft's Huey, Dewey, and Louie (Marketing, Sales, and PR) haven't found a way to crack that nut...until they started making things, albeit not showstoppers, incompatible with Win2k.
Until they convert those licenses to XP, and more importantly Vista, it's lost revenue, and smaller dividends paid.
Cramming ads into the kernel are their best solution (under the circumstances), hoping the ability to crack it will take some time and be considered risky at best.
All they are doing is telling their little herds of 'softie software is they are getting desperate.
We've gone from IBM mainframes with 3270 screens to desktops to desktops connected to the 'net, the web, and now, (practically) needing nothing but a browser on a dumb PC in order to deal with everything. Figure out where the MS software fits that timeline.
__________________
[1] for a while, it was an easy interview question for HTML people, then ASP. "What happens if things appear on the screen in IE; but a blank screen in browser , but the text is visible when you View|Source?" (unbalanced tags, usually in tables)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://thewaxwingslain.com/)
I've had it with Microsoft.
I don't think many of us understand the danger of such insidious targeted advertising. What about when the technology is so good it can subtly reformat every article you read, and "customize" every TV show and film you watch in order to influence you to accept a certain set of "truths" or to believe a certain set of facts.
Too late. It's already here and we haven't given a bit of thought to how it's going to change us. But the people who are paying for this have certainly given a great deal of thought to what it's going to do to us.
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Informative)
the movie wasn't a telling of the story I, Robot...
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://theravensnest.org/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 07, @07:05AM)
Re:Free OS (Score:5, Funny)
KFC (Score:4, Funny)
More Monies Please... (Score:5, Insightful)
What really scares me is that for this to be successful, without some type of backlash from the user community, it would have to be forced on us. As in, forced so you could no longer install another operating system on your computer. Perhaps this is there for when they sue Linux out of oblivion, or at least try to. Otherwise, who would ever use another Microsoft product.
Then again, the data collected from such an endeavor would be so valuable, Microsoft could market computers for free with this software installed. Perhaps that the only other way this is successful.
How standard is this clause? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How standard is this clause? (Score:5, Insightful)
A statement like this in a patent application should be grounds for automatic refusal of said patent. If you can't describe the specific implementation of an "invention"... no patent for you!
-matthew
ummmm? (Score:5, Insightful)
The sound you hear is... (Score:5, Interesting)
After swearing it off since my disaster with RedHat 4, I now know I am going to make the effort to explore Linux again. My email, browsing and documents are mine, and if the OS is capable of poking through them to advance the interests and profits of someone else, then the party is over. I can't trust them when they say they'd never do that; if the capability exists, it will get used at some point in time. I'll keep a windows box for gaming, but not much else, and certainly not any accurate identifable personal information.
Re:The sound you hear is... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The sound you hear is... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://mr-writing-person.blogspot.com/)
Re:The sound you hear is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Your helpful attitude is totally opposite of the attitude I ran into 10 years ago when I asked for help online.
If that's a common reaction, then the Linux comminty has come a long, long way along with the OS and software. I'm looking forward to trying it out and feeling secure again.
Re:The sound you hear is... (Score:5, Insightful)
It depends on the distribution and your attitude/skill level going into it. Fortunately there are enough distributions that you should be able to find a good match. But regardless of the distribution, I think it is important that one changes one's expectations of what software is. Once you go with open source software, you should expect to take on an attitude of exploration and community. There is no more expecting software to do exactly what you need right out of the box (although Ubuntu has gotten pretty good about this). Nobody owes you anything (you didn't pay for anything). Whatever anyone in the community does for you (whether it is writing the code or supporting it) is purely voluntary. That is both the strength and weakness of free/open source software. Embrace it.
-matthew
So I guess this makes Microsoft... (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Tuesday January 16 2007, @10:33AM)
So, I guess this officially makes Microsoft Windows adware/spyware. I wonder if Spybot and Adaware will now remove Windows as part of it's run-through. One can certainly hope so.
Yeek... (Score:4, Informative)
(http://127.0.0.1/ | Last Journal: Friday November 02, @08:43PM)
Love it! (Score:4, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Sunday November 05 2006, @05:31AM)
-jcr
First spyware, now adware (Score:4, Insightful)
This is their "innovation" (Score:5, Interesting)
You see, they look at Google and do not get jealous of Google's achievements per se, they get jealous of Google's revenue streams and hence are attacking the revenue stream (advertising) without adding value to the consumer.
Now, you may argue that this bloatware will make the OS cheaper, but what I think will likely happen over the long run (if this ever goes through) is that the cheapest OS will cost the same and people will have to buy a "premium" version to avoid the ads. If people complain, Microsoft will point out that they got the ad-supported version "free" with the OEM computer (while not mentioning the OEM also paid for that copy).
Not yours. (Score:5, Funny)
When I first heard the name "Trusted Computing," I thought, "hey, great; does this, like, mean I can make clicky-clicky on links in the sketchiest of web pages without gasping in shock at the horrors of pathological proctology?" Then, of course, came the awful truth.
This evening, upon reading the name "Advertising Services Architecture," I thought, "hey, great; is this a cool new enabling technology that will this help me sell more stuff and make more money on eBay?" Then, yet again, came the awful truth, as pointed out in the link to this article.
As far as I know, these are but three of the 100 reasons [microsoft.com] I'll be speechless for Microsoft Vista. Or saying "Wow!" But: Is there some context in the English language in which "Wow!" means "I've got an axe buried in my head?" (Being speechless does, after all, seem to be an appropriate response to such trauma, and so I was trying to make the connection between the two.) Because after all the all the aforementioned truths, after finding out that this vast infrastructure for which I'm paying has nothing to do whatsoever with that for which I want to use a computer, well, that's kind of what I imagine it feels like.
Re:Free edition (Score:4, Insightful)
The inhumanisation of marketing: Badvertising (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://upt.org/lane)
A TV station that markets to you during your favorite program [consumerist.com]
Advertisements that come inserted into your bills
You are required, at your place of employment to endure compulsory marketing.
What's next, tatoos in the inside of eyelids when you're born?
In the world of marketing it seems there are no bad ideas. Overstep boundaries, go to far, garner enough negative attention and you're still golden. It's about brand recognition, not about stimulating support for a product.
Personally I've become revolted by all forms of marketing. I'm "turned off and tuned out"... to paraphrase what I feel.
I'm waiting for a consumer revolution in a world of sheep.
Is MS abandoning the software business? (Score:5, Insightful)
First we get Vista, with a reported 20+ services phoning home with enough detail to make what Redmond get personally identifiable, not to mention that the Business version in my experience is an absolute dog to run compared to XP or Linux on the same "Vista approved" hardware. So we have instant privacy and security problems that come with the package, and new code which will take another year to become actually safe and usable (cute visuals do not maketh a usable business OS, especially if you have to retrain everyone - might as well take the plunge and retrain them on Macs or Linux).
Then we get the latest Office, which will work in Microsoft's attempt to create an 'Open' file format. That effort has mainly demonstrated that they (a) don't know what Open means, (b) don't see what their customers are asking for and (c) don't care about the previous two aspects, to the point of not understanding that their effort is alienating their increasingly savvy customers.
What's more, the 'Open' documentation has already given rise to the question if their flawed Excel spreadsheet functions (as documented) are new defects, or simply the first documentation of an already existing flawed interpretation of the laws of mathematics - any calculation done on an Excel spreadsheet to report financial results could now be seen as breaking diligence. In other words, using Excel knowingly may even carry a risk of criminal charges (IMHO, IANAL). Which executive would want that risk, especially with lower cost alternatives at hand that support a file format than can be machine processed and has been accepted at EU level?
However, MS trying to move into other markets hasn't been quite the success they'd hoped for either. Huge repair bills for Xbox, Zune zonked, and a lot of suppliers opting for a less license encumbered OS in their phones - it's all looking a tad shabby for your average clued up investor. Not a stock I'd keep on my portfolio, and following the progression other companies have made I think death by lawyer (suing your customers) cannot be far away.
And now, new idea, they're trying to move ads beyond your control into the core OS. Oh yes, that really will help drive up productivity in an office. And it'll be a primary risk vector if it gets infected.
Oh, yeah, I forgot, any new MS OS is the safest ever. Shame it still gets hacked before it's even launched. Talk about losing credibility..
Sure, I'm probably just a Mac/Linux fanboy. Isn't it irritating that even the less vocal ones in that category get proven right all the time? I don't choose an OS because of its fanbase, I chose it because it works for my business and I can see through the FUD (and OK, we're not a thousand seat business). I've had one office on OO exclusively now for 6 months, and no client has even noticed the difference - they're now switching to Linux completely. All the other offices are busy being switched to all Open Source based software in the next few months (using the holiday season), with the occasional Mac thrown in for graphics work.
And you know the best news? No virus problems, no daily 'reboot now' updates, no Genuine Advantage, no BSA/FAST worries.
It Just Works.
This may be Microsoft's answer to Google (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.animats.com)
This may be Microsoft's answer to Google. And, incidentally, to Linux.
Microsoft already has a tiered operating system - the "business model" version of Vista is significantly more expensive than the "consumer model". The logical extension of this is a free consumer model with ads, and an expensive business model without ads.
This has many advantages for Microsoft. First, it's an answer to Google, which is ad-supported but doesn't have much of a lock-in mechanism, like Microsoft does. Second, it's an answer to Linux - preloaded consumer grade Windows becomes ad-supported, which is probably worth more than the current preload charge. It even helps Microsoft deal with piracy. The consumer version will be free. The business version will come with mandatory online services (they'll call it something like "Managed Workgroups") that will tie it to the mothership in Redmond.
Maybe Not as Bad as It Seems (Score:3, Insightful)
It's also possible that this is intended for another go at a DVR. Not that I would store documents on my DVR, it seems logical to want to be able to throw ads in there in the most efficient way possible.
However, if taken at first glance, it appears Microsoft has truly come up with yet another innovative way to make Windows an even more awful user experience. Way to go, Microsoft!
We may not get better security... (Score:3, Funny)
Chris Mattern
Mercy sakes, you are ignorant (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Monday August 25 2003, @08:44AM)
^Bump^ (Score:3, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Saturday February 25 2006, @11:02PM)
Though I think the difference is fairly obvious: Google is an optional service for 100% of the computer using market. Using Microsoft Windows is not so optional for ~90% of the market.
I can't imagine that very many companies will be able to subsidize Windows Vista 2020 licenses through advertising, whereas MS can reap substantial profits from doing so, especially as they continue to move the computer from the desktop into the living room.