Why Microsoft going down the ad route is stupid
I find the notion that somehow Microsoft should suddenly start giving away their software (office) for free and replace their whole revenue stream through ads quite laughable. Even more amusing is the reasons presented by various commentators on the internet.
Some of the points made in the article I think are not very well thought out...like the following : -
The option of people paying for the software for an ad-free version doesn't really work either since only larger companies would do this due to the massive difference in price between the two. All other businesses and individuals would probably just prevent the application from being able to access the net...since a desktop application like Word can be (and must be) able to be used offline denying access to ads would be easy and could not possibly be a requirement by Microsoft since users should be able to have access offline.
So what is the solution then? Well my suggestion would be to branch out their products to the usage of different people. What they need is a very simple package that is perhaps only 100Mb big...and caters for 80% of the users out there. Many of us only use the Word and Powerpoint application in MS Office for example...This sort of simplified version should cost no more than £10-15 to buy..andd be built around simplicity and speed.
Supporting this should be a system where MS allows users to store documents online and do simple but cool stuff like collaborate with other users and access documents from anywhere. Settings/Profiles etc should also be allowed to be stored online to allow users to be anywhere and access all their work.
Since users often need info from the net when doing work MS should release a research tool that acts as a browser/search engine but works specifically for finding statistics and "knowledge". Here is where they need to enable context matching ads. Since people are actually looking for something, this is where users will be more likely to actually click on an ad. A bit like Google Scholar but with lots of added stuff like Textbooks (out of copyright??), novels (Gutenberg?), wikipedia, encarta articles, more info related sites, uni and school lecture notes, etc.
Some of their apps could be removed from the desktop and taken online, for example Microsoft Money is something that just begs for AI skills matched with context related ads. This is a service which could even work in the background on MS servers in that banks link to MS money online...giving users the ability to safely log into a site just to view their account info without the ability to spend from their account. This may be far safer than logging into a bank site where once you are in you could virtually do anything.
Just my thoughts...add yours!
Some of the points made in the article I think are not very well thought out...like the following : -
Neutralizes piracy: Piracy exists for a simple reason: people want a product, and they don't want to pay for it (or at least, don't want to pay full price). By offering an ad-supported version of their leading products, Microsoft would give these people what they want AND make money from themHow about this...people who usually go down the piracy route will just download a crack removing the ads leaving Microsoft in a worse position than before since now they are giving away their product away for free. Business users don't like ads...people who are working (read: office apps) don't like ads...people who have a laptop and are mobile or don't have a 24-7 connection can't make Microsoft money.
The option of people paying for the software for an ad-free version doesn't really work either since only larger companies would do this due to the massive difference in price between the two. All other businesses and individuals would probably just prevent the application from being able to access the net...since a desktop application like Word can be (and must be) able to be used offline denying access to ads would be easy and could not possibly be a requirement by Microsoft since users should be able to have access offline.
So what is the solution then? Well my suggestion would be to branch out their products to the usage of different people. What they need is a very simple package that is perhaps only 100Mb big...and caters for 80% of the users out there. Many of us only use the Word and Powerpoint application in MS Office for example...This sort of simplified version should cost no more than £10-15 to buy..andd be built around simplicity and speed.
Supporting this should be a system where MS allows users to store documents online and do simple but cool stuff like collaborate with other users and access documents from anywhere. Settings/Profiles etc should also be allowed to be stored online to allow users to be anywhere and access all their work.
Since users often need info from the net when doing work MS should release a research tool that acts as a browser/search engine but works specifically for finding statistics and "knowledge". Here is where they need to enable context matching ads. Since people are actually looking for something, this is where users will be more likely to actually click on an ad. A bit like Google Scholar but with lots of added stuff like Textbooks (out of copyright??), novels (Gutenberg?), wikipedia, encarta articles, more info related sites, uni and school lecture notes, etc.
Some of their apps could be removed from the desktop and taken online, for example Microsoft Money is something that just begs for AI skills matched with context related ads. This is a service which could even work in the background on MS servers in that banks link to MS money online...giving users the ability to safely log into a site just to view their account info without the ability to spend from their account. This may be far safer than logging into a bank site where once you are in you could virtually do anything.
Just my thoughts...add yours!
posted by Utills at
Friday, November 18, 2005
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