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.

---