"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" – Mark Twain
$6 billion is a lot to pay for any company, particularly when it’s about five times as much as you’ve ever paid for any previous acquisition; it’s even more impressive when you consider it’s a cash deal. But those are the table stakes to get into (or stay in) the online advertising business these days; and … Read more
Here at Microsoft, we like to listen. We also like data (and not just so we can ignore it). And whilst work on Gatineau is already quite well advanced, we’re still keen to learn what folks out at the sharp end of web analytics actually want to see in a product like this. So to … Read more
Well…. no. Okay, that’s not true. Just fancied writing a sensationalist headline after a day at E-metrics London. But Gatineau did get a mention at the recent WebGuild event on Web Analytics at Google’s offices in Mountain View. Paul Botto, head of enterprise sales for Google Analytics (and formerly of Urchin), said that “the race … Read more
My colleague Justin attended an interesting meeting yesterday where one of the subjects of discussion was how transparent Microsoft can (and should) be about its business models, particularly as they relate to subsidized or free products for consumers. According to Justin, the mood in the room was divided, with some participants favoring openness as a … Read more
The inestimable Avinash Kaushik has done me the favor of sending more traffic the way of my blog, by excerpting some answers he gave to Jeff Lawrence of Sonicko Consulting in a recent interview on Jeff’s blog. In his answers he lists four things he’d like to see in Gatineau, our forthcoming web analytics tool. … Read more
So it transpires that Microsoft has offered to pay someone to update a Wikipedia entry about open source software standards. Since Wikipedia’s whole foundation rests on the fact that its contributors are doing so out of the kindness of their heart, and the Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has explicitly stated that paying for Wikipedia content is … Read more
I’m always amazed by the economic niches that grow up around the periphery of big companies and industries. It’s a great demonstration of the Darwinian roots of capitalism. So I was delighted to discover (in a purely academic sense, of course) via GoogleWatch that a little industry has grown up around the business of managing … Read more
Amusingly, some of the blogs and newswire services that are reporting on our Gatineau alpha have the project name down as Gastineau. Perhaps the confusion is caused by a hankering for the glory days of the New York Jets and their legendary defensive end Mark Gastineau. Or perhaps it springs from a deep and abiding … Read more
I should know by now that you can’t hide anything from the Internet. So it doesn’t come as any great surprise to me that blog posts are starting to appear that have spotted that there is now something live on the Internet under the name of ‘Gatineau’. As the observant amongst you will know, Gatineau … Read more
Congratulations are due to my colleagues over in the Windows, Office and Exchange dev teams for getting Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 done (not before time, you might be forgiven for saying). All three were launched today by Steve Ballmer at NASDAQ in New York City. In (un-)related news, a groundswell of support for Bill Gates … Read more