Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel? 359
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."
How standard is this clause? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
So I guess this makes Microsoft... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:More Monies Please... (Score:3, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:5, Interesting)
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).
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:3, Interesting)
On a flip note, ad supported Vista? Free, but we get to serve you ads?
but a 100% over my dead body for looking at user files!
Re:So I guess this makes Microsoft... (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh please. You don't need to "subsidize" the selling of software. A copy of software is worth no more than the media it is written on, the box it is packed in, and the paper the EULA is printed on. If there is no media (i.e., you download it), any sale is pure profit.
They already do it in certain situation for schools and special promotional programs because they know that a) copying the software is nearly free and b) users will eventually become indoctrinated and therefore become future paying users of their intellectual property. The only difference in this case is that Microsoft will be able to have their cake and eat it too. They can give away something that is virtually free in the first place (and get good press) AND make profits from advertising.
-matthew
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)
This may be Microsoft's answer to Google (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Probably be for Consumers Only. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The sound you hear is... (Score:2, Interesting)
Linux, unix, OSX and Windows are just operating systems, the interface between the user and the hardare. They are not inventions of the almighty one(s)!!
How long is it since you used Linux and more importantly how long did you use it for? An hour, a day, a week?
Most users never install Windows themselves so they never run into the hassles of finding the right drivers and software that are just as real in Windows as any other OS. OSX is the only OS that has a true advantage there, preinstalled or out of the box, it does just work because Apple provide the hardware as well.
I can install most linux distros in less than 30 minutes and be up and running with the right drivers and software already installed and only one reboot. Try that on an upgrade install of Vista.
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:ummmm? (Score:1, Interesting)
Why? Is it from some unaired episode of an obscure Sci-Fi tv show, a great work of fantasy literature or a memorable quote from the foreword a great physicians book?
No, it's from a f*cking Friends episode. Which are aired daily in every part of the world, by now.
Can quotes _get_ any lamer?
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:4, Interesting)
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:Is MS abandoning the software business? (Score:2, Interesting)
Nah, they're not abandoning the software business. They're just not satisfied with having one monopoly but want to be the one monopoly for everything. So they are just using their software monopoly as leverage for trying to kill Sony with the X-Box, Apple with the Zune and now those ads being yet another attempt at killing Google (because the chairs seem to have not worked). Of course, the very same got them a lawsuit when they tried to kill Netscape with IE (because chairs weren't yet invented back then).
The best thing, of course, is that they don't even need a quality product, because they're Microsoft: Having been in the right place at the right time to deplace IBM, nobody is getting fired for buying from Microsoft. Just put in a good dose of FUD, and nobody will even want anything else, provided they even know that there is anything different.
So, I gather that was a rhetorical question?
Re:Wonder when this will be an "important update"? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think this is a great illegal restraint of trade case a-brewing. Let' say I have a web site and I sell advertising. If my ads can be replaced by the ones from Microsoft's sponsors at the last step before my audience's eye balls, then why would any one buy any general consumer advertising from me? (Unless I pay protection money to Microsoft to leave my ads be.)
defensive patent? (Score:3, Interesting)