RSSNew Microsoft E-Mail Client Gets Ads
By Nate Mook | Published June 5, 2006, 2:59 PM
UPDATED Microsoft is embedding advertising in its new e-mail client software known as Windows Live Mail Desktop, the company disclosed late Friday. The feature, known as Active Search, will display text links based on a message's content, much like Google does with its Gmail service on the Web.
Windows Live Mail Desktop is expected to be released later this year and will eventually serve to replace Outlook Express, updated for Vista and renamed Windows Mail. Because it will not ship with Microsoft's new operating system, Live Mail Desktop will be available as a free download.
As previously reported, Windows Mail in Vista brings to the table evolutionary improvements to Outlook Express 6, including an integrated spam and phishing filter. But much has changed in the Internet landscape since OE6 debuted in 2001.
RSS and blogging have begun to spread, and users are spending more time utilizing Web based services now that broadband has reached ubiquity. Microsoft unveiled Windows Live last year to help usher in this new era.
Windows Live Mail Desktop will fill the role of connecting the operating system with a number of Live services. The software client links up to Windows Live Mail without configuration, and integrates Live Messenger contacts directly into the interface. It also works with any POP or IMAP e-mail account, with support for multiple inboxes.
Like its Web-based counterpart and other Windows Live services, the product will be supported through the use of advertising. At the core of this effort lies Active Search, an addition Microsoft is pitching to users as a helpful feature, but which will largely function like text link advertising on popular search engines.
Active Search appears in a pane on the right side of the application window. A Web search box sits above a number of sponsored links, which are provided by Kanoodle, a third party contextualized advertising company. Based on the content within an e-mail message or RSS article, the sponsored links will change.
"We’ve designed Active Search to make it easier for you to act on anything that piques your interest while reading your email. That’s why we show you key search terms we find in a message and provide a search box right underneath, so you can quickly search for terms of your own," Live Mail Desktop developers explained.
Microsoft is already preparing for the eventual controversy and privacy concerns this new feature will bring with it. The company has tapped the services of consulting company Jefferson Wells to conduct a full privacy audit of Active Search, the results of which have been made public.
In addition, Microsoft assures that keywords used to bring up sponsored links will never be connected the person who sent the e-mail, and says it will remove all traces of collected keywords each time the software is restarted. Keywords will never be gathered from attachments or "unsafe" messages, and social security and credit card numbers will be ignored, developers add.
Active Search can also be disabled by the user, but will be on in Live Mail Desktop by default. Disabling the feature stops the software from gathering keywords, Microsoft says.
With the addition of text link advertising in Gmail, Google faced an outcry from users and privacy advocates alike, who cited concern about the content of their e-mail being read by the company. The issue eventually subsided, but Microsoft may face stricter resistance, says Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox.
Wilcox notes that Microsoft has added the technology to a desktop application, where users are not accustomed to seeing such ads. Furthermore, Microsoft has outsourced the advertising functionality to a third party, while Google uses its own in-house AdWords solution and can directly control any data it collects.
Kanoodle's privacy policy says it, "does not sell, trade or rent personal information to other companies. However, we will transfer personal information in connection with a sale or merger of Kanoodle or the division responsible for the services provided to you."
The company adds, "We may also share your personal information with our technical consultants, third party auditors and other third parties who make our site available, enhance its functionality or provide associated services."
One potential sticking point is likely to be Microsoft's inability to assure that keyword information is kept secure. Kanoodle says it uses "industry standard security devices," but explains, "Kanoodle cannot guarantee that your information will be completely protected from unauthorized access and you assume such risk when you use our services."
"Kanoodle’s customers are the advertisers and publishers who use Kanoodle’s services, and as such the Kanoodle privacy policy does not apply to Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta testers who receive Kanoodle ads," a Microsoft spokesperson explained to BetaNews. "Those consumers are covered by the agreement between Microsoft and Kanoodle."
"Our agreement with Kanoodle helps ensure that they follow the same strict requirements with regard to protecting the privacy our beta testers including that Kanoodle will not collect any personally identifiable information from any MSN user, and will not transfer any information collected from any MSN user to any third party without the prior consent of Microsoft and the customer," the spokesperson clarified.
"Collected keywords will be stored anonymously in our adCenter and Search systems, and during the beta by our trusted partner Kanoodle, however it is important to note that collected data cannot be traced back to either recipient or sender."
While Kanoodle is powering the Active Search feature for the beta, the company could opt to switch over to its own MSN adCenter service for the final release. adCenter is currently used when a Live Mail Desktop user performs a manual Web search from within the client.
Microsoft developers also note that Active Search will evolve based on feedback from the beta period. "Being able to compare feedback from participants with and without Active Search will help us learn whether our new features are truly of value to our users. Also, starting with a small group of testers will help us fine tune Active Search for a broader audience when we finally release."
"Microsoft takes the privacy of our customers very seriously," added a company spokesperson. "In terms of Active Search for WIndows Live Mail Beta, Microsoft has taken significant efforts to help protect consumer privacy."
hehehe double spam :)
u get an email about a p**** enlarger or such
and ontop of that u get p**** enlarger ads...
and then ur boss walks by u,
as u sit infront of ur pc,
with a p**** enlarger email and the ads to go with it :)
......
funny pic in mind
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|Amazing to me how every single article about Microsoft generates mountains of comments either singing the praises or damning to hell all things Microsoft, lol.
Make sure that it's clear that the Windows Live Mail Desktop is for the up-and-coming Windows Live Mail version of Hotmail. So it's a desktop version of Hotmail.
This is NOT the same as Windows Mail that is replacing Outlook Express in Windows Vista. Anyone else confused yet? I know I am, and I actually keep up with this stuff.
That said, I'm OK with the Hotmail desktop app using G-Mail-esque text ads, since Hotmail already offers ads to us. If it were Windows Mail that were getting Ads I'd be a little ticked off.
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|So to get this straight, as I am pretty confused...
Windows Mail = Outlook Express
Windows Live Mail Desktop = Hotmail (but installed locally?)
God I wish Microsoft would fire their marketing/naming team.
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|From what I'm hearing lately, Windows Live Mail Desktop is going to be a winner. I don't mind text ads based on keywords in your message, because it will limit flashy annoying banner ads and blend into your messages.
When Live Desktop releases to public beta, i'll probably be inclined to download it and take a look.
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|Microsoft takes the privacy of there customers very seriously not like Google who have a whole intro of details on you. Google survives on advertising so what’s wrong with some one else having a slice, remember competition is good.
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|Desktop applications should not have ads.
There are plenty of open source options out there so you don't have to have MS crap with ads.
Weeeeeee......
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|"Desktop applications should not have ads."
Pardon me if I fail to see the logic in that statement.
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|Admit it... you're a G-Mail user aren't you? :)
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|i hate microsoft haters... you people are so bitter about microsoft you're willing to use some crap a** alternatives just for just... Openoffice, sucks compared to msoffice. Thunderbird sucks compared to outlook. Linux is boring and you cant do jack on it... Only alternative i prefer is firefox to internet explorer... hey btw, what the hell would you people do if microsoft suddenly went down the drain and we were all forced to use linux? hmm? think about it for a moment before you complain bout microsoft... Im not saying ms is perfect, but you all should give a lil credit where its due...
As for google, it'll take over the world with all the info they have on people! ...they're just saving all the info down, referencing it to locations, ip addresses, names, numbers, people...they'll put it all together and they'll know everything about everyone thats online! Smells like the us government...sneaky bas****s, hide behind their jets... Haha, look at what happens to the poor bas****s that have to be on the ground... Laughing my a** off! "Today, 20 us marines killed in a suicide attack" blah blah blah... Democracy my ass!!
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|"what the hell would you people do if microsoft suddenly went down the drain and we were all forced to use linux?"
ummm....
we'd use linux
people like you are why i dislike MS
you seem to think the world would change without them
i use windows, works just fine for me, they are a quality company
but if they weren't around, someone else would pick up the slack
MS stifles competition,
makes people like you believe the computer world wouldn't exist without them
i like their e-mail clients (i use windows live mail and OE). i think this move is good all around.
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|'"Today, 20 us marines killed in a suicide attack" blah blah blah... Democracy my ass!!'
WTH? Care to tell me how long it took Germany to become a free democracy post WWII? Just curious....
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|"Linux is boring and you cant do jack on it..."
Have you ever actually used linux and tried to get it to actually work correctly? You CAN do jack on it. It does everything you want it to if you take the time to set it up. I'm not going to say it is easy though. But hey if MS went down the drain, then some linux company would get a pretty big increase in market share and would have the resources to make their distribution good enough for the public.
Microsoft is not God.
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|Use Linux? Mwahaha! 'Use Linux' is like 'eat rocks'. Rocks are not edible.
We'd use OSX ofcourse. It's anyway better than anything MS and the lazy, filthy, unemployed opensource amateur programmers can come up with.
No go away clown!
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|Just like google
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|I don't use gmail and I won't use Windows Live Mail Desktop! I hate ads and that is all there is to it. If the day comes where I can't use the computer due to too many ads then I will just move to the mountains and say the hell with computers and the people that are stupid enough to live with them all of the time. It's one thing to just do a quick, Here is our product and this is what it does, and another to manipulate people into believing that is can do anything and with most ads you have no idea what the product is or does, they have to much crap in it.
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|Mmmm Google do it on gmail and people have a go about it then say.."oh well spose it is ok, it's google"
Now microsoft do it and the world goes mad at them lol
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|Actually, there was just as big a deal when Google announced that they would put adds in gmail. There were talks of privacy concerns, the IEF got into it. People were talking about the Evil Google Empire, and how it was second only to MS in its evildom.
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|Who is the IEF??
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|...
"the ads are not in the built in
email client, but in the downloaded
one"
...
Right. Like anyone will do the D/L so they can
get free advertising !
This is a trial-balloon. There's only one reason
for developing an e-mail ad server ...and it
AIN'T because customers want advertising.
Microsoft will port this to the pre-installed
client if the negative reaction now isn't huge.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
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|Microsoft will port this to the pre-installed
client if the negative reaction now isn't huge.
Okay, karnac. Okay...
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|I think many people don't understand the purpose of this software, and actually the article doesn't really help. The point of WLMD is to give Windows Live Mail users an offline email client. It is almost directly taking Windows Live Mail out of your browser and onto your desktop, ads and all. It does improve on the functionality of Windows Mail (aka OE), but I don't see it replacing Windows Mail...yet. For one, it's not integrated into the OS like OE is. It also doesn't have newsgroups. And lastly, it has ads. Clearly Microsoft is not putting ads into OS-integrated software. At least not yet.
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|We have had one, Outlook Express. I use it with hotmail and have for years.
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|"Clearly Microsoft is not putting ads into OS-integrated software. At least not yet."
Yet being the keyword there. Only a matter of time.
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|Congrats to Microsoft. They took a page out of Google's book. No doubt, there will be a lot of whining from MS-haters, but that's business as usual.
Smart move IMO. When you buy the OS, you are not buying an e-mail service. Don't like it? Use a different e-mail client/service. No one's stopping you.
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|"No doubt, there will be a lot of whining from MS-haters"
whine about what?
competition is good for business :-)
as long as neither party sues the other one over it
but i still dislike MS
:-p
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|I was referring more to the whining that has already taken over the comments on this story.
Whining such as: Ok they add a spam filter to get rid of spam then add more spam.
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|Not whining about..just found it ironic. I actually don't hate microsoft because of their products. They have good products. I'll admit that much. What I hate is the fact that they have such a stranglehold on the software industry.
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|isn't when a software include ads, it's become adware? When has MS decides change their business model?
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|Gmail, like Windows Live mail/Hotmail is an on-line service and I expect it to have ads. You have to pay for the free service somehow but my computer is my own and ads have absolutely no place in any application, desktop email or otherwise. You pay for the OS! There is no reason that a badly needed upgrade to an obsolete Windows mail client has to have ads. I paid for an internet security suite just to remove adware from my PC.
I have always used Microsft's OS's and office apps but I have recently switched to Mozilla's Thunderbird email client (no ads and it's free too!) as well as Firefox simply because they came to point where they're a better choice than the Microsoft offerings.
Tis a pity...
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|Ok they add a spam filter to get rid of spam then add more spam. The phrase "does not compute" comes to mind.
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|pshhhh... Does not compute, indeed.
I wonder: Do you use Gmail?
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|Not anymore. The only thing I see that Gmail has to offer that is any better than any other service is space.
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|labels...conversation...archive...search...
Yeah, all they got is space.
*shakes head*
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|Labels suck and so do conversations.
I like regular email and for that Yahoo! Mail is the best hands down right now.
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|Labels suck and so do conversations.
We're not spouting personal opinion as fact here, are we?
Personally, I can't go *back* to "regular" email. It's counter productive to me now. Being forced to use a client without conversations is like nails on the chalkboard...messages all over the place, like someone dropped a deck of cards. Least with conversations it's all organized.
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|The more ads they put stuff in the more of their stuff I will not use.
They went over the top with the ads in Windows Live Mail. It's insane. It's difficult to use with the huge @$$ ads everywhere.
I hate corporate BS and I hate big business.
What's funny is that Outlook Express, while being crap, is still better than the new email client MS is going to release. :)
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|OE does not include phishing or spam protection.
Windows Mail does.
Windows Live Mail, which the article above discusses, is something entirely different.
Though the article seems to be a bit misleading on that part.
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|It's just garbage like Eudora
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|"No big deal"??? Did you guys see the new Windows Live Mail Desktop in action??? The freakin' ads are HUGE! They're the same type of ads in the regular Windows Live Mail site. Here's a screenshot:
http://www.treworld.com/images/wlmd.jpg
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|You apparently missed the parts about text ads and desktop client. Isn't that screenshot of Windows Live Mail on the web?
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|They're like dogs to the bone.
*pant* *pant* *pant*
*slobber* *drool*
Gotta bash MS...gotta bash MS
*pant* *pant*
I can understand seeing something like this once or twice on a topic, as some folks are terminally stupid, but this entire topic seems overrun.
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|lol
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|No, he's right. That is Windows Live Mail Desktop, and those are the non textual ads you see if you chose not to see them.
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|Doesn't matter if it's TEXT or IMAGES, the ads will be that BIG. That is the actual WLM Desktop. The web-based version looks almost the same except you can add more accounts in the navigation tree on the left.
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|You complain about ads. You show your screen shot of beta version mail client. Granted its easier to use. Why would you complain about ads from microsoft when I see 3 BULK emails from papa johns, 2 snapfish emails, mcaffee email, and net temps emails. Thats 8 out of 12 emails that are junk or bulk. 75% respectfully errr about 25% of the screenshot is actually an ad. So 75% of your mail is ads, 25% of the screen is ads now your b****ing about the 25%. dumba**
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|Doesn't matter if it's TEXT or IMAGES, the ads will be that BIG.
Wow... umm... yeah... no comment. My parents taught me that if I don't have anything nice to say...
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|...get them a beer?
I really don't see how that applies here.
huh...
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|lol
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|...
Microsoft has an uncanny ability at
shooting itself in the foot.
Pretty soon, however, it'll run out of
feet !
Stuff ~like~ this is how big corporations
with a bright future end up in bankruptcy:
Alienate their customer base.
Anybody remember WordPerfect's
near-absolute market dominance in
the 1980s-1990s ?
[ Symantec being another company
working hard to put itself out of
business. ]
If Microsoft don't watch out, they'll end
up selling music like Apple !
...
The Computer Rodent
...
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|blah blah blah...
Let me know when you start talking about something you actually know something about. I might be more inclined to listen.
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|Stuff ~like~ this is how big corporations
with a bright future end up in bankruptcy:
Alienate their customer base.
Ummm.... it's a free service. No one is making you use it. And doesn't even one tiny part of it remind you just slightly of Gmail? Does that ring a bell at all?
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|How does a few lines of TEXT come close to huge color ads? It's not like gmail! I don't use either and nor will I. I have seen gmail a few times, it is NOTHING like this.
It may use a few ideas from Gmail, but that is about it.
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|The feature, known as Active Search, will display text links based on a message's content, much like Google does with its Gmail service on the Web
Did you read the article or just everyone's ridiculously ignorant comments?
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|We like to ocmpund idiocy with idiocy. It's a BN thang.
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|Ummm have you even see the real program??? NO BN tells only half the sory about everything! You know that! I have seen it and it has Larger full color ads! Take that and stuff it. Both of you!
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|Gmail already does this. It's no big deal
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|'zakly
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|You are talking about a Web based email service, this article is about a desktop application.
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|I thoght it said AIDS
LOL
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|rofl. Now THAT would be news.
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|For some reason I have a hard time trusting a company named "Kanoodle".
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|Well, I don't know how to feel about this yet. They are just text ads. On Internet browsers I can stand them. In my email client (i.e. a program on my computer which should only display my email), I don't think I could tolerate it as easily.
In any case, Thunderbird suits me just fine, and is ad free to boot.
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|Dude.
It will not be in the default email client for windows.
It will be in the downloadable client.
I fyou don't want it, don't download it.
Can't you people be bothered to think, or is it "Bash MS first...think about it if and when we feel like it"?
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|I didn't say anything about it being the default client or anything of the sort. I was just giving my two cents on the matter.
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|If you don't want it, don't download it.
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|Poor Microsoft, they're so financially destitute that they have to resort to adware to make a bit of extra money. Seriously though, this is disgusting. Between the DRM and now advertising Microsoft can take Vista and shove it.
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|lmao...
The feature, known as Active Search, will display text links based on a message's content, much like Google does with its Gmail service on the Web.
Text ads.
No biggie.
And this has nothing to do with Vista. Any app that works in XP will work in Vista. Everything you can do *now*, you will be able to do in Vista.
The HDCP bit is for *new* devices only.
Get a grip, dude. You've been FUDded.
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|Text ads are still ads, they have no place in a Microsoft retail product. I mentioned Vista because as I understood it this replaces Outlook Express, but now I see it won't ship with Vista. At least that what the article says, I'm not convinced at all that other parts of Vista won't have ads or that they won't somehow force them in later on.
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|WLM Desktop will feature ads because it is a free product.
As the article states - "Windows Mail in Vista brings to the table evolutionary improvements to Outlook Express 6".
Windows Mail will be a replacement for Outlook Express for Vista, so it is hardly likely it will feature ads!
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|...
"And this has nothing
to do with Vista. Any
app that works in XP
will work in Vista."
...
So, you get a built-in spam filter with
Windows Live ...but replaced with built-in
spam in the form of advertisements ?
Yeah, you can buy Vista and find an old
copy of Outlook Express to put on your
machine. But ...as long as you have to
manually replace Vista's e-mail client...
might as well do so with a non-Microsoft
e-mail app !
The inestimable factor being all the
ill-will created for Microsoft, a
corporation that doesn't need any
more bad public relations.
...
The Computer Rodent
...
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|Because it will not ship with Microsoft's new operating system, Live Mail Desktop will be available as a free download.
Sorry, tried and couldn't find a point in that post there.
Windows Live is a seperate program. Windows Mail is built in to Vista.
I'd like to believe you know what you're talking about, but you're making it hard for me.
I admit the article above is a little confusing on that point, but the ads are not in the built in email client, but in the downloaded one. :)
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|People sure do like to post around here without a clue as to what they're talking about, don't they?
Anything to jump on the MS-bashing bandwagon, eh?
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|I am not jumping on any bandwagon, I love Microsoft and their past products but I WILL NOT use any product with ads.
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|Skyfrog- Maybe what you don't understand is this...
The Windows Live Mail Desktop program will be like Windows Messenger is to XP...
The built-in Windows Messenger doesn't feature ads, however, it also doesn't include all the features of the "MSN Messenger" application. (Which you have to go out of your way to download to get the MSN Messenger, ads and all.)
Either way, read the article before you bash. Microsoft is putting ads in a program you're DOWNLOADING from them for FREE. Not in the Windows Mail application in Vista itself. Those are two different things.
*_*
I dislike how articles are written to 'enrage' consumers that don't bother to read the entire thing. "Because it will not ship with Microsoft's new operating system, Live Mail Desktop will be available as a free download."
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|You noticed that too?
Makes me wonder if Nate doesn't like watching the rabid dogs fight once in a while. ;)
The article just screams blatant attempt to draw flamers.
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|