quote:

---

Microsoft Corp. said on Wednesday it will offer a free, advertising-supported version of its basic productivity software, Microsoft Works, as part of a test program with computers manufacturers.

The world's largest software maker has been pondering the future of Microsoft Works, its basic spreadsheet and word processing software, in the face of rising competition from Google Inc.'s suite of business software services.

Unlike Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which are delivered through an Internet browser, Microsoft plans to pre-install Works on computers and display advertisements stored in cache. The software normally retails for $39.99.

When a user connects to the Internet while using Works, that cache of ads will refresh, said Melissa Stern, a Microsoft senior product manager in the Office group.

The company plans to roll out the advertising-supported Microsoft Works SE 9 in a few months. Microsoft would not disclose either the PC makers with which it was working or the markets for the test program.

Google and other Internet rivals are threatening to topple Microsoft's dominant position in desktop software with software services delivered over the Web supported by advertising or subscriptions.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said the company needs to embrace the "software as a service" movement without abandoning its bread-and-butter desktop products. The company has invested heavily in its Web advertising business with the goal of building a powerhouse to rival Google.

One of the goals of the test program is to figure out if there is a viable business model for advertising supported software, Stern said.

---

said by patent application :

---

Inventors: Carpenter; Bradley L.; (Carnation, WA) ; Vargas; Garrett R.; (Sammamish, WA) ; Johnson; Krista L.; (Newcastle, WA) ; Searle; Scott; (Kirkland, WA)

---

quote:

---

The truth comes out: Windows users are not customers. They're the product. The customers are advertisers and the content industries.

---

said by Doctor Four :

---

»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···ems.html

---

quote:

---

The application, filed in 2006, describes a multi-faceted, robust ad-delivering system that lives on a "user computer, whether it's part of the OS, an application or integrated within applications."

"Applications, tools, or utilities may use an application program interface to report context data tags such as key words or other information that may be used to target advertisements," says the filing. "The advertising framework may host several components for receiving and processing the context data, refining the data, requesting advertisements from an advertising supplier, for receiving and forwarding advertisements to a display client for presentation, and for providing data back to the advertising supplier."

The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?

The software would also free advertising from its traditional browser yoke. "A word processor may display a banner ad along the top of a window, similar to a toolbar, while a graphical ad may be displayed in a frame associated with the application. A digital editor for photos or movies may support video-based advertisements," the patent application says.

---

quote:

---

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. Yes,
Redmond wants to own the patent on the mother of all adware.

---

quote:

---

Those who control the content and flow of information will control the future of nations and the people in them.

---

quote:

---

One suggestion is a low-end version of the operating system that comes bundled with other ad-supported programs, such as Works, Outlook Express and Windows Media Player. However, the writers point out that "it's not clear how to prevent these elements from being replaced."

---

said by fatness :

While the "for free or cheap" part made me chuckle, you may be onto something here about differentiated pricing. Avoiding ads for a higher purchase price and/or regular monthly payments might be more like it --- a paid un-subscription.

said by article :

---

"As Web advertising grows and consumer revenues shrink, we need to consider creating ad-supported versions of our software," two Microsoft researchers and an MSN employee wrote in a paper presented to company executives earlier this year. The document was prepared for one of Microsoft's twice-yearly Thinkweek exercises, in which Chairman Bill Gates and other top executives gather to consider potential new avenues for the company to follow.

Microsoft officials confirmed the authenticity of the paper, dated Winter 2005, but declined to comment on its contents.

---

said by swhx7 :

The capability for data-mining users already exists in Windows, especially Vista. See for example this other Slashdot story today with links on how Vista routinely stores copious information about what each user has been doing on the computer over a long period of time.

said by ABA Journal :

---

Available since late January, Vista offers a host of new security and built-in backup features. But from a litigator’s perspective, the interesting point is that it keeps a lot more information—and more detailed information—about what a person does with a PC. This means lawyers can potentially discover more forensic evidence about what is on a computer and construct more detailed time lines about what was done with that information.

For example, a new feature called Transactional NTFS, or TxF in Windows-speak, keeps much more detailed user records. These records allow attorneys to construct a more accurate time line of events.

“Right now you can ... say information was accessed on a certain day, but that might not prove anything,” says John Simek, co-founder of Sensei Enterprises, a legal technology and computer forensics firm in Fairfax, Va.

But with Vista “you can look in there and see something was accessed on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday at such-and-such a time going back months.”

Vista keeps something called a shad­ow copy that backs up your work in the unused space on the hard drive. It’s designed to prevent data loss; but with it that data will stay on the computer—perhaps forever. Windows systems have been replicating data similarly in recent releases, but Vista makes it easier for forensic examiners to find deleted data.

In addition, the new Instant Search technology allows users to find documents faster by keeping an index of things they have worked on.

However, the index becomes a new source of discoverable information that details almost everything one uses a computer for. “It’s Google Desktop on steroids,” says Simek. “It’s an indexed database of more evidence stored right there on a computer.”

---