34333
submission
nieske writes:
Of course we all want webpages to load as fast as possible, but now research has finally shown it: four seconds loading time is the maximum treshold for websurfers. Akamai and JupiterResearch have conducted a study among 1,000 online shoppers and have found, among other results, that one third of respondents have, at one point, left a shopping website because of the overall 'poor experience'. 75% of them do not intend to ever come back to this website again. Online shopper loyalty also increases as loading time of webpages decreases. Will this study finally show developers of shopping websites the importance of the performance of their websites?
8596
submission
nieske writes:
In response to Google Apps for Your Domain, Microsoft is also planning to release free web-based business software. The software will be ad-supported, but a paid, ad-free version will also be available.
From the article: "Revenue from software licenses for Office and the Windows operating system accounts for a bulk of Microsoft revenues. The challenge for Microsoft will be to make sure a free or, possibly, a subscription-supported version of Works won't hurt sales of its dominant Office software, which accounted for a quarter of the company's $44 billion in sales last year."
Would you choose an ad-supported online version of Microsoft Office over other free options like OpenOffice or Google Apps for Your Domain?
8255
submission
nieske writes:
Engadget reveals that Wal-Mart accidentally published the intended price of the Microsoft Zune online. The iPod rival would apparently retail for $284. In response, Apple has lowered the price for the iPod 30 GB, previously $299, to $249. Subsequently, the Zune price has been pulled from the Wal-Mart site. It is expected that Microsoft will respond to Apple by another price drop, as BetaNews states that "undercutting the iPod is a major goal of Microsoft's upcoming effort."
7721
submission
nieske writes:
CNet reviews Microsoft's new video site, Soapbox. Though browsing and uploading is easy, CNet isn't very enthousiastic about the beta, mostly blaming this on the fact that Soapbox has nothing more to offer than other video sites.
From the article: "It's a slightly better sharing service than YouTube in some small technical ways, but it doesn't help users make money from their content like Revver does; it doesn't have granular privacy controls like Vox; it won't post directly into blogs for you like VideoEgg; and it won't show videos from other networks like Yahoo Video. Given Microsoft's position in the video sharing market (dead last), I expected a more aggressive product."
7524
submission
nieske writes:
Rumors are spreading about Google and Apple teaming up to form a video alliance. Google might provide streaming video content for Apple's upcoming iTV, which was revealed in last week's Apple event. The only thing that seemed to be missing in the iTV preview was streaming video, and with Google's Eric Schmidt on the Apple board of directors, this alliance might actually not be so far-fetched.
