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At last,
the contents of Aardvark's "million-dollar ideas" notebook
are revealed for all to see!
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The wonderful(?) co-branded XtraMSN portal launches today -- what do you think
of it so far?
The first trace of Microsoft's influence is the way it doesn't quite
look so good on my Netscape browser. What's going on with
this search form
I wonder??? (Note: the gray bits are mine -- to highlight the problem area).
Gosh -- I also count THREE ads piggybacking along on that page where the
only content is a four-sentence news story.
Hey, but let's not be too critical -- why build a site that makes your
competitor's browser look good anyway?
let's face it, there's not much new to see here (so move along please) --
it's just the same old XTRA site (which is fine) with a new escutcheon.
What a yawn.
At least it's a whole lot better than the old MSN.co.nz site which was
utter US-centric nonsense.
However, based on recent stories and debate, I wonder if we'll soon have
to sign up for a Microsoft Passport before we are allowed access to
parts of the XtraMSN website?
Microsoft's Bid For Omnipotence
It seems that Microsoft is hell-bent on forcing every man and his dog to
adopt their universal identification/authentication system. Their latest
move is to force subscribers to the MSDN developers network service to
get a passport if they want access to the online resources on offer.
Needless to say, some developers are less than impressed with this
move and they've been bitching madly about it.
But stop and think about it for a moment...
Microsoft are clearly attempting to position themselves as a universal
clearing-house for information on the Net -- a role which could make them
immensely powerful and massively boost their revenues.
If the MS Passport became the defacto standard for establishing and
authenticating a user's identity then anyone who wanted to transact business
on the net would have to enter into a contract with Microsoft to use it.
Scenario: Want to visit your favourite ad-funded website? Sorry, you can't get in
without an MS Passport because advertisers insist on having extra demographic
material about those who view their ads.
Scenario: Want to buy something on the Net? Sorry, your credit card is no good
unless it's backed up by an MS Passport to authenticate your identity.
Scenario: Want to vote online in the next election? Sorry, you can't vote without
an MS Passport because Microsoft are making sure that they're the technology
supplier to governments all over the world.
Far fetched?
So was the suggestion that the Internet would become a "consumer service"
rather than the domain of academics and geeks -- until it happened that is.
Of course to maintain objectivity, we have to consider the up-side of
Microsoft's seeming need to have total domination of the Net.
Thanks to the MS Passport, you won't have to remember a whole lot of
different IDs and passwords to access secure services.
Perhaps you'll even be able to dispense with those cumbersome credit card
numbers completely and have all your purchases billed (through Microsoft)
directly to your bank account when you buy something over the Net.
The ads you see while surfing the Net might even become relevant and
promote products or services you want to buy.
But should we perhaps remember the biblical quote which hitherto only
applied to the IRD?
"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelations 13:17
What do you think of Microsoft's quest to become omnipotent?
Send me your feedback.
Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using
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