Microsoft News Tracker

You don’t hear the term dancing baloney much anymore, but about a decade ago it was the standard description of gratuitous Web gadgetry that designers added to Web pages for no discernable purpose other than that they could.  Microsoft yesterday announced a makeover of the formerly spartan Live Search home page and the only way I can classify it is as dancing baloney:

The new design features background images that will change frequently, augmented with what we call "hotspots." These interactive areas highlight parts of the image and help you explore search results related to the highlighted area. Users who have tested this new home page have found it both engaging and a great place to start a search.

Right now the background image seems to be from Botswana and the hidden hotspots reveal various Botswana related factoids. Apparently the "users who have tested this new home page" for Microsoft have a lot of time on their hands.

Speaking of home page makeovers, Microsoft is apparently also rolling out one for MSN, and while I detest the MSN home page heartily for its default mixture of supermarket checkout style celebrity news and cloying shopping and "self help" articles, this change looks more useful.

The good news that the new version (check it out here) adds a sidebar with a tabbed interface for Hotmail, Messenger and Spaces. The bad news is that also adds a player for MSN video with a default selection of "fun" videos which, as I write, features a man completely covered with tattoos. I guess it is someplace for the Live Search test users to go when they get tired of Botswana.

I see that I haven’t spared any pixels for MSN Soapbox, Microsoft’s YouTube clone, since it shut down temporarily in March due to the presence of the same copyright infringement problems that had Microsoft tut-tutting about YouTube. Apparently, Soapbox relaunched in April to little fanfare and ambled along in closed beta as before.

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Sun’s JavaFX to take on AJAX, Silverlight in the Rich Internet Application (RIA) competition. I thought the days of slow, cheesy looking Java client apps were thankfully past, but I guess not. Hearing that “JavaFX Script leverages 2D graphics APIs in the Swing GUI toolkit” merely reminds me how awful Swing applications actually were. We’ll see if Sun can find a pony here with a scripting variant of Java, but I doubt it. While they were at it, Sun mostly open sourced Java.

Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar v1 released. I’ve long used something similar with FireFox, but one was really needed for IE.

SQL Server ‘Katmai’ Lacks Anticipated WinFS Features. Why spoil a perfect record? Related: David Boschmann explains Microsoft database projects Jasper and Astoria.

Microsoft publicly betas Tahiti, renamed SharedView. It’s a screen sharing program which up to 15 people can use for collaboration. There’s still no hint as to where it fits in the Microsoft galaxy of products although the original rumor was as part of Office Live.

Symantec attacks Microsoft’s Forefront Client Security. The fact that Forefront Client Security (for businesses) is using the same engine as the troubled OneCare consumer product leads to predictable snarking.

Microsoft signs Web video deals:

While it’s tempting to label the shows advertorials and leave it at that, Ben Silverman, Reveille’s chief executive, said he’s tried to find more elegant ways to incorporate products and entertainment.

I think Ron Popeil beat them to it.

Microsoft must answer racketeering claims over Best Buy deal.

Xbox Spring update released including Windows Live Messenger.

PS3 to ‘Win’ Console War Because of Blu-ray according to Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst.

Mac share of US Web surfers doubles in 8 months - it’s up to 6%

Some Microsoft news items from this week that didn’t find a post of their own:

MSN wrings the last lonely remaining viewers out of the “long tail” with “‘A Big Life With Sissy Biggers’ webisodes to air exclusively on MSN.”

Microsoft will provide search, mail, and messaging services to the customers of India’s 4th largest mobile provider, Hutchison Essar.

Microsoft released a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Microsoft Robotics Studio which was announced in June.

Microsoft’s Live Labs And Microsoft Research launched a tech preview of Photosynth, an application that blends ordinary photos into an immersive 3D image. It uses technology developed by Seadragon Software which Microsoft acquired in January, er February. More details at the Photosynth site and from Tuan Nguyen at DailyTech.

From last week: Microsoft and a number of other leading tech companies settled the “JPEG patent case” with Forgent Networks for considerably less than Forgent had been hoping for.

Yesterday’s Google acquisition of YouTube is being endlessly dissected today, but Steve Rosenbush has an interesting article at Business Week Online on the implications for Google competitors including Microsoft:

The software giant considers Google a top rival and a threat. Google already challenges Microsoft by creating free online software applications that compete with Microsoft’s spreadsheet software and other products. Microsoft’s MSN site competes with Google in search, advertising, video, and online media, and Microsoft reportedly had an interest in buying YouTube.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, meeting with BusinessWeek editors Oct. 9, said Google could emerge from the YouTube deal an even stronger rival. If Google can work out a good advertising model with YouTube, he said, it makes Google a stronger competitor to Microsoft. It will have a larger share of the growing online ad market, and can use the cash to create more products like the free online spreadsheet software, calendars, and word processors it already offers. But Ballmer says Microsoft has a long-term strategy, not to mention a history of coming from behind to overtake rivals such as Netscape, the early leader in the browser market. “We’re very long-term. We’ve got a stick-to-it-iveness, a tenaciousness that I would argue is unmatched,” he said.

All quite true and deep pockets certainly help with the persistence, but a lot of checks are being written on Microsoft’s stick-to-it-iveness account lately. I also think it’s interesting that Ballmer focuses on the Google’s free office software as if it were the ultimate objective of raking in the advertising bucks.

So what’s Microsoft to do about online video?

Microsoft has several options. It can continue to try to build MSN as a rival to popular sites such as YouTube. It could also borrow a play from Google and combine its technological prowess in a deal with a content company. While Microsoft’s employees can match Google in terms of technical brain power, it will be tough to find a company that can match YouTube’s cultural appeal and power on the Web. One possible target could be Yahoo!, which is suddenly looking like a laggard in the world of online media. But Yahoo retains a vast base of users and remains a powerful force on the Web.

There are smaller players in Internet video who could be takeover candidates, but they would not add much to Microsoft’s portfolio. Why not think big with a Yahoo acquisition which has advantages beyond just video?

Update: Speaking of stick-to-itiveness, Todd Bishop notes that coincidentally invitations went out yesterday to beta testers for MSN Soapbox, Microsoft’s nascent YouTube competitor.

Update Oct. 11: Business Week has the full transcript of the Ballmer interview here.