Financial Incentives for Live Search Data 36
InfoWorldMike writes "In an apparent attempt to boost its disappointing Web search market share, Microsoft will give 'service or training credits' to companies that will share employees' Live Search usage data. The program is being tested with 'a select number of enterprise customers based on the number of Web search queries conducted by their employees via Live Search,' Microsoft said in a statement late on Thursday. The move prompts InfoWord's ed-in-chief to ask: Is Office Live Microsoft's gateway drug?"
yeah (Score:4, Funny)
Screw training credits. There was an email going around that said Bill Gates had some intertron email tracking system and he was giving out cash money, and all you had to do was forward the email to all of your friends. Seriously.
Smells like (Score:3, Insightful)
Democrats have control again, lets see if they have the nuts to take a stand and stop this crap once and for all!
Re: (Score:1)
OMG - head explodes... (Score:2)
Information wants to be free.
or
Good information is worth paying for!
Ahhhh.....
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
not gonna happen (Score:2, Funny)
besides you really want msn tracking you?
and for what? credits? might as well be free skee ball coupons
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it might - all those sysadmins with linux and bsd boxes squirreled away now have an excuse to create scripts to hammer microsoft's search engine - "Hey boss, linux is good - we're using it to earn the company credits."
If they REALLY want to capitalize on it, they can hire a spyware programmer to help turn their desktops into a botnet cluster when the employees aren't using them.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Make data collection and warehousing profitable (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Here is your reminder: it's a company that thought that limiting the users options to a proprietary OS [slashdot.org] is a "good thing" and would increase thier sales. I guess they forgot to fire that marketing guy who game up with such
Why Compete On Merit? (Score:3, Insightful)
Google made it big by producing a new, clean, fast and thorough search engine.
Microsoft just wants to give people money to use theirs.
Do they even *remember* what competition is about?
Re: (Score:1)
If it works for politicians, then it should work for users. Right?
Re: (Score:2)
Sherman Antitrust Act (Score:1, Informative)
Doesn't this violate the Sherman Antitrust Act: where a monopoly cannot use their market power (IE: existing customer base) to extend into other fields / markets .
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Doubtful. IANAL, but first of all, Microsoft has been found to hold a monopoly in a narrowly-defined market only: Intel-compatible PC Operating Systems [usdoj.gov]. They certainly don't have monopolies in anything relevant here (search? productivity apps? online gadgets? not even.) so there's not much they can leverage that would be unfair to the competition
Microsoft copying SPAM inovation? (Score:1)
Maybe there is something to paying your userbase?!? I just haven't quite figured it all out yet. Maybe you can help me out...
1. Make Internet product
2. Give it free to users
3. Pay users to use it
4. ????
5. Profit !!!!!!!
Infoconomy (Score:1)
Think about it. There are hundreds of thousands of businesses using Microsoft products to conduct their wares. Data mining techniques could be used to streamline the distribution of goods on an epic scale. Currently, there is no massive central agency handling the supplies and demands of an entire economy.
Information fueled mechanisms are what propel econom
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Walmart just trucks things in and loads everything on to the shelves at it's stores. You are basically shopping at a warehouse, that if you've ever noticed, is kind of sparse.
Re: (Score:1)
Two pronged approach (Score:2)
is MS this desperate?!!! (Score:1)
Okay, will do (Score:1)