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Re: Some relevant web pages
Norm: You raise an interesting point. -Is- Objectsoft a Microsoft Business
Partner?
Scott K. McGrath
mcgrats@ix.netcom.com
Norm wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Nov 1997 04:59:16 -0500 (EST), Dave Sieber wrote:
>
> >Another very interesting text was something I came across on USENET,
> >entitled "The Microsoft Method". It talks about MS and Auto-By-Tel,
> >online travel, Citrix, Stac, Go Corp., Micrographx, and Sidewalk, with a
> >complete list of media sources. I hadn't seen it anywhere before, and
> >the author/source was uncredited. I saved a copy on my personal home
> >page, until I could find the author and source. My copy is located at:
> >
> >http://www.datadepot.com/~dsieber/msmethod.html
> >
> >If anyone knows where this came from, I'm sure we'd all appreciate a
> >post here on the list.
> >
> >And last, if you missed the details of Borland's Unfair Competition
> >lawsuit, their legal complaint was posted briefly on their web site, and
> >then removed. However, the page is still there, there just aren't any
> >links to it. You can read it by doing a search in Alta Vista on
> >"+borland +microsoft +legal +complaint", about the fourth item in the
> >search results entitled "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE", or you can just browse
> >to:
> >
> >http://www.borland.com/about/mssuit.html
>
> Thanks for the great links Dave. All those sites included info
> about many things I already knew about, but there were even a few
> examples that were news to me.
>
> There was one tidbit on one of the sites that I found most
> interesting, and it made me wonder just how close David's (ObjectSoft)
> company actually is with M$ (ie. is his company a partner with M$) or
> were they naive enough to allow M$ to see too much of what they're doing
> and he's about to see what many of us have been talking about first hand.
> Although I seriously doubt we'll hear anything much different than
> "we'll welcome the competition" I'd really love to see if he still feels
> the same way about M$ in about a year. Below is part of something I got
> from one of the above web sites
> (http://www.datadepot.com/~dsieber/msmethod.html). Although the focus of
> the post is about what M$ might do with data gathered from these 'Kiosks'
> the market sure looks exactly like what ObjectSoft is doing.
>
> --------------------------------------------
> Sidewalk and Data Mining
>
> "Microsoft and/or its affiliates may gather, process, and use
> (and allow others to use) the information which you provide
> directly (e.g., name, physical address, email address), as well
> as information regarding the manner in which you use this Web
> site.
>
> "From time to time, Microsoft may allow others to offer products
> and services to you."
>
> -- Microsoft Corp.'s Seattle Sidewalk Web Site, "Terms of Use",
> April 1997
>
> Once MSFDC gets its hands on bill payment data, "The key question
> is what they will do with it," said Alexandria, Va., banking
> consultant James G. Hamrick.
>
> -- American Banker, September 29, 1997
>
> The Microsoft stance on transactions has clearly changed, as its ventures
> into electronic commerce show. Analysts believe that the company's
> patience
> and deep pockets will enable it to sustain these projects during the time
> it takes for them to become profitable.
>
> Microsoft acknowledges that it will lose money on its Web endeavors in
> 1997, but it will invest $300 million to $400 million per year for five
> years to prop up all of its content sites, including Expedia, CarPoint,
> Investor, Sidewalk, and other upcoming projects.
>
> There are well-defined, market-share hopes for these sites. Lewis Levin,
> vice president of the company's desktop finance division, declared
> recently
> that the desired percentage of online investors moving through the
> Microsoft Investor site is "greater than 50 percent."
>
> Microsoft's change of heart about electronic commerce can be traced to a
> revenue source other than just processing fees, according to the
> September
> 1997 issue of Institutional Investor.
>
> "In addition to fees from billers for processing the checks, there's a
> gold
> mine in the information about consumer spending contained in those
> bills,"
> the magazine says. "That makes MSFDC potentially a lucrative business for
> Microsoft."
>
> On April 3, 1997, Microsoft launched a Web site called Sidewalk, a local
> arts and entertainment guide. Sidewalk first appeared in Seattle, and has
> been followed by four more sites, New York, Boston, Minneapolis/St. Paul
> and San Francisco. Microsoft announced that five more cities would be
> added
> to the list by the end of the year.
>
> The Sidewalk service contains a powerful database on restaurants, movies
> and events in the cities it serves. It offers a free-of-charge, custom
> service tailored to users' preferences in entertainment, arts and other
> fields. This custom service only works if the user provides his/her name,
> address and other personal data.
>
> Whether they know it or not, Sidewalk users give Microsoft implicit
> authorization to sell their name, address and uses of Sidewalk to third
> parties. Nothing in the customizing setup discloses this fact; users
> discover the policy only by clicking on a "Terms of Use" button and
> scrolling through the legalese. Here is what appears under the "Use of
> Information" section, found halfway through the "Terms of Use" page:
>
> "Microsoft and/or its affiliates may gather, process, and use
> (and allow others to use) the information which you provide
> directly (e.g., name, physical address, email address), as well
> as information regarding the manner in which you use this Web
> site. From time to time, Microsoft may allow others to offer
> products and services to you.
>
> "If you wish to discontinue receiving such offers, you may notify
> Microsoft by sending email to sideterm@microsoft.com. In order to
> permit us to make this change, you must include your email name
> and first and last name in the text of your message."
>
> When consulted by the media about this portion of the Sidewalk site,
> Microsoft Sidewalk General Manager Frank Schott says the company has "no
> plans" to sell names of individual customers.
>
> "Bill [Gates] is not just in the business of publishing on-line
> City Guides. He is also in the data-mining business. And when
> he's determined from your virtual visits which cities most
> interest you, no doubt his virtual travel agent will give you a
> call.
>
> "It was said of the Chicago meat-packing companies that they used
> every part of the hog except the grunt. By Microsoft standards,
> they were rank amateurs."
>
> -- John Naughton, The Observer, June 22, 1997
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> I really don't like the idea of trusting M$ with people's personal
> information but that's not why I posted this. My guess is that unless
> David's company is helping M$ (which would explain why he's been their
> apologist so far) I don't think he's going to be too thrilled to see M$
> plunge into his own company's market. I personally hate to see that type
> of thing happen to any company, but that said I can't help but wonder how
> pro-M$ he'll be in a year or two if M$ is allowed to keep conducting
> business as he now says they should be.
>
> ...Cheers,
>
> ...Norm
>
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