Microsoft News Tracker

That’s the title and the lede in Joel Rothstein’s Reuters article:

Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates on Wednesday mocked a $100 laptop computer for developing countries being developed with the backing of rival Google Inc. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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“The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk … and with a tiny little screen,” Gates said at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum in suburban Washington.

“Hardware is a small part of the cost” of providing computing capabilities, he said, adding that the big costs come from network connectivity, applications and support.
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“If you are going to go have people share the computer, get a broadband connection and have somebody there who can help support the user, geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you’re not sitting there cranking the thing while you’re trying to type,” Gates said.

Stand by for the media furor. I think the idea is fairly wacky myself, but the chairman of Microsoft needs to be crisp in his arguments if he’s going to take on this one. Gates didn’t help his case by holding up one of the newly announced $600-$1000 Origami UMPCs or thinking that the $100 computer involves sharing - there’s actually supposed to be one of the hand cranked gadgets per kid. I also wonder what happened to Microsoft’s cell phone alternative.

Microsoft Developing Web’s Largest Advertising Network:

Ad testing begins on Office Live, Windows Live Mail and MSN Spaces.

Microsoft Corp. today announced it has begun testing display advertisements across Microsoft® Office Live, Windows Live™ Mail and MSN® Spaces. The multimarket tests include advertisements from such global companies as Coca-Cola Brazil, JCPenney Co. Inc. and Monster Worldwide Inc. and mark the beginning of providing advertisers with broader access to Microsoft’s valuable online audience. This effort will help generate revenue to provide consumers with a wide array of free and low-cost online services such as Web hosting, e-mail and Web services.
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Coca-Cola Brazil, JCPenney and Monster Worldwide are among the 20 global marketers participating in the initial ad tests. The results of the multiple ad formats being tested will help determine which ad offerings provide the best return on investment for marketers while adding value to the consumer experience.
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Windows Live display ads are currently being tested in MSN Spaces in Australia and Italy, and Windows Live Mail display ads are being tested in various markets across the world including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Office Live display ads are initially being tested in the U.S. and immediately sold out of their available openings for beta advertisers. Tests will continue on these and other Microsoft sites and services throughout 2006, while additional research is underway with approximately 100 advertisers in nine markets to verify advertisers’ needs and best practice advertising solutions for Windows Live.
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In November 2005, Microsoft outlined its Windows Live and Office Live online services vision and highlighted an advertising network in which marketers would be able to create more meaningful connections with customers while providing advertisers with the unique opportunity to connect with a new and highly coveted audience, which includes small-business owners.

Microsoft will continue to invest heavily in MSN.com, as well as continue to explore new advertising opportunities on Live.com, OfficeLive.com, Microsoft.com, the Xbox Live® service, Internet Protocol television (IPTV), mobile devices and other Microsoft properties.

I was just complaining the other day that what was missing so far in the “rolling thunder” of “Live” announcements has been the money. After all, it’s hard to do “ad-supported software” without the ads. Now it looks like Microsoft’s new worldwide ad czar, Joanne Bradford, has put together a pilot test of conventional display ads for some of the “Live” services.

That’s OK for a start, but one wonders what took them so long. To paraphrase the popular wisdom about Google, “Live” isn’t in the Web 2.0 business, it’s in the business of selling ads. It’s agreed that you have to have something to get the customers in the door, but accommodating and serving ads should be a key part of every “Live” design and plan.

As for the undetailed claim of “Web’s largest advertising network,” I expect the appropriate definition is “Web’s largest advertising venue,” since I doubt that all the Microsoft properties together have more viewers than all the places on the Web currently showing Google Ads. Which brings to mind that Microsoft also still needs to launch adCenter’s contextual ads on their own and other publishers’ sites. Just selling conventional display ads on your own popular sites doesn’t win the prize.

Yesterday’s rumor of Sony delaying the PlayStation 3 game console until November was confirmed today by Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony’s game unit, in a hastily call press conference in Tokyo. Yukari Iwatani Kane and Sachi Izumi at Reuters:

Sony Corp. said on Wednesday it would delay the release of its new PlayStation 3 video game console until early November because development of some of the technology was behind schedule.

The company, which currently dominates the game console market with a market share of about 70 percent, said it planned to launch the much-anticipated PlayStation 3 (PS3) almost simultaneously in Japan, North America and Europe in time for the key holiday season.

“When we initially announced our plans to launch this spring, we had expected the standardisation work on all of the technologies to be completed by last August, but there were improvements that were decided on since then,” said Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony’s game division.

“We wanted to be sure to include all future technologies that are available now,” he said at a business briefing for software developers as he apologised for not updating the industry sooner.

Actually, he offered several excuses. Martin Fackler at the New York Times:

Ken Kutaragi, president of Sony’s game unit, apologized repeatedly during a hastily called meeting of game software developers, analysts and reporters for failing to have the console ready this spring, as originally promised. He said the delay was mostly the result of a strategic decision to give developers time to write game software, and to make a splash ahead of the pre-Christmas shopping rush.

“Instead of rushing, we want to have a solid launch,” Mr. Kutaragi said. “We wanted to have time to make the big sales season that starts with Thanksgiving.”

Mr. Kutaragi said Sony will be ready to produce 1 million consoles per month by November, and plans to make 6 million machines by March 2007.
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On Wednesday, Mr. Kutaragi cited delays in developing copyright protection technology for Blu-ray as a factor in the holdup. But he said that this and other technical problems will be resolved by June, and that Sony could have launched PlayStation 3 earlier had it chosen to do so.

Follow both links for some skeptical punditry about the excuses and about what it means for Sony which has been struggling in recent years. However, everyone agrees that it is a golden opportunity Microsoft’s Xbox 360 if they can capitalize on it.

One final oddity from Fackler’s account:

Mr. Kutaragi only compounded such fears on Wednesday by announcing that PlayStation 3 will also include a 60 gigabyte hard-disc drive, Linux operating software and the ability to handle broadband Internet connections. These additional features will allow the game console to double as a home server, further driving up production costs.

Why? This may be of interest to a few, but a standard feature? Dan Choi at joystiq has a roundup of more technical details from the news conference as well.