While many people are happy to share their photos, videos and location online, most would draw the line at uploading their health records too. That’s exactly what one political party in the UK is reportedly planning though.
The proposal from the Conservative Party would give individuals the right to choose for a private company to hold their medical records. There would be a variety of companies offering the service and Google’s Google Health and Microsoft’s HealthVault are among those in the frame. (more…)
Microsoft seems to be planning a murder. Its victim? Any kind of innovation in the Netbook market.
Take a look at the netbooks on sale right now. Virtually all have Windows XP, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. The key factor in building a netbook is price, so you’re not going to expect a powerful machine for your money.
Of course, manufacturers are trying to sqeeze that little bit of extra power into their new models. The problem is that Microsoft is hell-bent on stopping them.
Let’s investigate:
The Evidence:
- MSI has been forced to remove the hybrid storage in its new Wind U115 netbook thanks to a new decree from Microsoft that anyone wanting to install Windows XP on their machine can’t use storage that combines the speed of flash memory with the greater size of a hard disk. This follows an earlier rule that netbooks with XP can’t have more than 1GB of RAM.
- Microsoft hates the name ‘Netbook’. They’d prefer we all use the term “Low cost small notebook PC“. Yes, that’s just as catchy and marketable isn’t it? It’s almost as if they want them to sound less desirable.
- Until there was a public outcry, Microsoft wanted to limit the netbook-friendly version of its upcoming Windows 7 OS to run no more than three applications at once. They eventually grudgingly relented and allowed unlimited apps.
The Motive:
Vista sales are flagging and Windows 7 is still at least four months away from release. Demand for XP is higher than Microsoft would like.
The fact is, people don’t care that the computer they’re buying is cheap and running an old OS; it does what they need it to. That must hurt Microsoft. Killing netbooks by strangling them with licensing restrictions and poor marketing is their desperate attempt to keep Vista sales afloat.
The Verdict:
Customers won’t be fooled. They’ve heard Vista is a poor choice and they’ll continue buying netbooks with XP as they’re cheap and ’good enough’. Microsoft’s actions, especially the licensing restrictions that hold manufacturers back from innovating, are at best morally questionable and at worst crying out for an anti-competition case against them.
For now let’s sentence Microsoft to a stern slap on the wrist and a demand that they realise that, as usual, the customer is right.
Yesterday we showed you the first Microsoft Bing commercial. We didn’t like it and neither did you. Today we have two new commercials which are, better. Yes, we have to admit, this is starting to look like something.
Could it be that Microsoft has a new “First announce shit, follow up with improved shit” strategy? They show us something dreadful which every blogger jumps on and then follow up with something which is better. We, the bloggers, users and Twitters, have to admit then that the second version is better. Result: more PR and readers are left with the memory of the second, more positive, review.
In these new ads Microsoft focuses on the downside of keyword based search. It limits the output. This isn’t necessarily a Google problem though: all search results improve radically when you use more than two keywords in your search. Still, these ads look more like they could be part of a campaign with a philosophy behind it than the cut and paste, no character, stock video mash-up we saw yesterday.
There is a famous story about a meeting between Yahoo and Microsoft which took place when Yahoo was still a small start-up. Yahoo was growing at neck-breaking speed and David Filo and Jerry Yang were invited to Redmond to talk about working together.
The meeting turned into a disappointment when Steve Ballmer joined the conversation and gave his opinion on the future of search engines. According to Ballmer Search Engines were a temporary solution to a temporary problem. Ballmer claimed that “within a few years there will only be a handful of websites left. People will use their Favorites to navigate to those destination sites and nobody will need a Search engine except for a few students and professors.”
Looking back at how history unfolded you could say that Microsoft started missing the boat right there and then and has been struggling to get back to the front of the line ever since.
Amusing as it might sound Ballmer’s prediction might not be that insane after all. He might have been wrong then, is wrong now and might be wrong tomorrow but he might be right eventually.
Bing was launched, or perceived, as a potential Google killer. I don’t think any new search engine could kill Google. So what could?
To answer that question we first have to find out what Search actually is. What solution does Search offer and when do you need Search?
The question: When exactly do you need search?
The answer: When you don’t know where to find something
So what if you did actually know where to find everything?
There are billions of webpages and knowing where they all are is simply impossible. But what if Ballmer is right? What if one day we would simply stick to a few sites and spend all our time there? (more…)
After surprising the world by launching four days early, it seems Bing’s first day may not have gone as smoothly as it could. Despite Microsoft claiming they wouldn’t be forcing Bing on anyone, it appears some users are stuck with it anyway.
We’re getting word that a number of Internet Explorer 6 users are loading up their browsers to discover that the default search engine, which they had set as Google, has been changed to Bing. What’s more, when they try to change it back they’re being blocked from doing so thanks to a Microsoft Live Search message that reads: “Oops This isn’t the page that you wanted”.
We can’t recreate the problem ourselves but the evidence coming in includes tweets saying:
Meanwhile over on the Google Support forum more complaints about this problem are coming in. One user claims the problem is down to the way IE6 handles non-URL formatted text entered into the address bar.
The only fix at present would appear to upgrading your browser, something the web design community would cetainly thank you for. IE6 is a notoriously quirky browser that mishandles lots of modern web code. This latest problem, which does not seem to affect those with Google Toolbar installed, is one more argument for replacing that out-of-date browser.
Microsoft may be trying to improve its image but this bug is reminding people of their poor history with web software. That’s not a good first impression for their latest attempt to steal Google’s search crown.
Written on 1st June 2009
40 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
[Visit here. You can also try Bing out for your own country TLD (.co.uk, .fr, .jp etc..). ]
After admittedly only trying the new Microsoft search engine for 20 minutes, there really is no question in my mind that whilst Bing may have it’s 15 minutes of fame, the majority of users will unquestionably remain with Google – as will I.
There are some neat little touches, such as the video playback, and results do show rather fast, but the fact is there really isn’t enough distinguishing the two services. Results, so far, are not unlike some of the results I’ve seen in better new search engines (like DuckDuckGo) – rather good, but still not good enough to break the habits of my nimble fingers or stubborn mind.
A friend asked if I could give him a few tips to promote his movie online this morning. I decided to Google it and Bing it to compare results, Bing and Google. The results really do speak for themselves, as they should.
However, irrespective of features, habits and results, there is one major obstacle which, for now at least, will keep Microsoft at bay…
Family
Google have cleverly built a family of services, the majority of which put to shame anything that Microsoft has released online. The user retention levels (thanks to products like GMail, Docs, Gtalk, iGoogle, YouTube, Calendar) make Google a place where I spend 80% of my online time. One way or another, I’ll end up back on Google Search until I know for a fact – that another search engine is offering results I can’t find as easily on Google. (more…)
Written on 28th May 2009
3 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Microsoft’s New Search at Bing.com Helps People Make Better Decisions
Decision Engine goes beyond search to help customers deal with information overload.
REDMOND, Wash. — May 28, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today unveiled Bing, a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions. Bing is specifically designed to build on the benefits of today’s search engines but begins to move beyond this experience with a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions, focusing initially on four key vertical areas: making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business. The result of this new approach is an important beginning for a new and more powerful kind of search service, which Microsoft is calling a Decision Engine, designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. The new service, located at http://www.Bing.com, will begin to roll out over the coming days and will be fully deployed worldwide on Wednesday, June 3.
The explosive growth of online content has continued unabated, and Bing was developed as a tool to help people more easily navigate through the information overload that has come to characterize many of today’s search experiences. Results from a custom comScore Inc. study across core search engines show that as many as 30 percent of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result. The data also showed that approximately two-thirds of the remaining searches required a refinement or requery on the search results page. (more…)
Written on 28th May 2009
11 COMMENTS Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.
Despite what some of the images say, courtesy of TechCrunch, the search engine is actually called Bing. We haven’t had time to play yet, and it’s official due date is not till the 1st of June but TechCrunch, Marketing Pilgrim and Search Engine Land have in depth reviews.
The world is abuzz with the news that Microsoft is about to launch a serious Google competitor somewhere in the next days. Unfortunately Microsoft has gotten such a bad rep when it comes to launching, and growing, web services that it is hard to find an optimistic blogger out there.
Is there anyone in the world who thinks that Microsoft’s new Search Engine, named Bing, will seriously compete with Google?
Of course they have a 100 million dollar ad budgets to inject their new service into our brains but that only sets expectations higher. Because no matter what their ad budget is, no one will ever consider leaving Google unless Bing’s results are substantially better than Google’s.
Peter Drucker famously said that “For new technology to replace old, it has to have at least ten
times the benefit.”
That means that Bing doesn’t have to be twice as good as Google but more than 10 times as good before people will switch. Somehow I just don’t see that happening.
It does make me very anxious to try out Bing. Somehow I can’t imagine Microsoft going through all this trouble for a mediocre product. The must have SOMETHING that makes them this optimistic.
If they don’t, all Bing will be known for in a few months will be it’s acronym: “But It’s Not Google”
Written on 6th July 2009
5 COMMENTS 
While many people are happy to share their photos, videos and location online, most would draw the line at uploading their health records too. That’s exactly what one political party in the UK is reportedly planning though.
Microsoft seems to be planning a murder. Its victim? Any kind of innovation in the Netbook market.
Written on 4th June 2009
Amusing as it might sound Ballmer’s prediction might not be that insane after all. He might have been wrong then, is wrong now and might be wrong tomorrow but he might be right eventually.
After surprising the world by 
Written on 1st June 2009
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Microsoft’s New Search at Bing.com Helps People Make Better Decisions
Despite what some of the images say, courtesy of 
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
