According to ComScore, Google takes 59.8% of search traffic in the US, leaving Yahoo, MSN and smaller players to fight for the scraps. Pretty pie-chart here. Slightly different numbers are available from Compete and Hitwise, but Google still rules the roost.
posted on Apr 17, 2008 - View this thread

A Soldier's Lament by Brian Mockenhaupt in Esquire, brought to you via MSN. We've seen a similar post by a Marine officer recently, but I liked the tone of this one a bit more because it does a better job of showing us the inside of a warrior's head.
posted on Mar 21, 2007 - View this thread

Yes, another one. Best Rest of the Web. There are lots of questions sites now. Amazon opened Askville. And now Windows Live has "QnA". I'm all for competition and innovation, but really, why does the question-and-answer site format attract so much "me too" behaviour?
posted on Nov 7, 2006 - View this thread

Microsoft won't delete blogs without proper legal notice. Microsoft has changed its blog censorship policy, previously discussed on MeFi.
posted on Jan 31, 2006 - View this thread

"They use my lines for free -- and that's bull." The CEO of SBC Communications Inc. Ed Whitacre launched this criticism at the likes of Vonage, Google,Yahoo and MSN. Meanwhile Google is seeking some alternative paths to the Internet.Perhaps SBC should head the old adage from John Gilmore "the net treats censorship as a defect and routes around it”Or perhaps these companies need to pay the proverbial Internet plumbers; myself, I prefer more competition;my phone bill has never been lower!
posted on Oct 31, 2005 - View this thread

Virtual Earth from MSN While I'm familiar with Google Maps it was fun again to play around with Microsoft's response that was just released. In summary, allows you to pan/zoom around the US, and with a click of a button, see aerial/satellite imagery. This stuff is just soooo cool! ;-)
posted on Jul 23, 2005 - View this thread

Blackhat Search Engine Optimization Techniques. Through the use of a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint, you can have competing web sites thrown out of Yahoo's search index. If you file a DMCA report against a site, Yahoo will quickly remove the "offending" site, leaving no trace of the site in its index. This has led to a rise in so-called "Blackhat SEO," wherein one seeks to become the leading search result not by improving one's own site, but by having competing sites removed through the DMCA.
posted on Jul 12, 2005 - View this thread

Micros[censored] Helps China [censored] Bl[censored]s. "This topic contains forbidden words. Please delete them."
posted on Jun 14, 2005 - View this thread

Search Wars The BBC reviews five search engines, including Google and the new MSN beta
posted on Nov 12, 2004 - View this thread

Microsoft has unleashed their internet search engine to the world. It currently isn't working, at least for me. Is it wrong of me to wish it stays that way?
posted on Nov 11, 2004 - View this thread

Bill Is Thinking About The Children. MSN has decided to close almost all of it's chatrooms across the world. It cites concerns about paedophiles targeting and grooming children. Some children's charities are delighted. Some of MSN's competitors are less impressed.
posted on Sep 23, 2003 - View this thread

Google: the God that failed? is the title of the article on MSN Slate. All of us know Microsoft is working on a new search engine technology. Till date everyone considers Google to be the Guru. MS obviously doesn't like that, so what it is doing? Well, the same thing it always does - to survive competition, eliminate it. The reasons being given by the article are pretty silly and more aimed at 'faming down' Google.
posted on Jul 22, 2003 - View this thread

Searching MSN for the phrase "Linux" yields some pretty amusing (but yes, unsurprising) results. The first site seems moderately legit - Amazon stuff related to linux. The second one - MSN has a tech section about Linux? Not exactly. It doesn't really have much linux content at first glance. The third link is most amusing - see for yourself.

Comparatively, a google search for "linux" yields much more useful results.

This makes me wonder: should ethics be taken into consideration on search engines? MS has every right to have whatever they want come up when you type in "linux" - but they are willfully contaminating search results, which makes one wonder what other search terms Microsoft might want to rig the output of, and also, which they might have overlooked...
posted on Jun 30, 2003 - View this thread

$300 million in advertising= 300,000 lost subscribers. MSN's butterfly ad campaign has led to a loss of 300,000 subscribers. Why? Terrible creative(remember the butterfly man?)? Price competition? Saturated consumer market? Environmental outrage at the use of decals and graffiti? Discuss.
posted on Apr 22, 2003 - View this thread

Hooray! Great news for those who love to communicate - Microsoft have released a new version of their popular Windows/MSN/.NET Messenger software! So, let's glance at the new features: there's a great new look with a spinny logo thingy, and... and, erm... well... it's had some features removed... like the ability to use third-party add-ons... and, oh but wait, there's new pop-up advertising and alleged spy-ware! Oh...
posted on Nov 26, 2002 - View this thread

.NET integration I use MSN messenger and am notified by it of any mail arriving in my hotmail account. I just logged in to hotmail with the intention of forwarding a few emails to my POP account for download by my mail client, and was informed that my account was suspended, and all mail, folders and addresses deleted, because I hadn't logged in to hotmail for more than 30 days. I've logged in to messenger virtually every day, but I hadn't received any mail so why would I log in to hotmail?

Is this a punishment for not requesting spam, or a sign that even Microsoft doesn't "get" integration?
posted on Jun 18, 2002 - View this thread

Hell freezes over. MSN coming to the Mac this summer.
posted on Apr 8, 2002 - View this thread

pressplay launches today. The service will charge people a monthly subscription fee to download and stream digital music, launched through its Web distribution partnerships with Yahoo, MSN Music and Roxio. A free 14 day trial is available.
posted on Dec 19, 2001 - View this thread

If you crow about your redesign, claiming your site is now "better-looking and easier to use" (and not, say, "sludgy as Hotmail and nearly as ugly"), and you offer a graphical tour to "show you how all these slick new features work", the link to which is a 404, are you the stupidest monopoly around?

Just wondering.
posted on Oct 29, 2001 - View this thread

MSN.com shuts out non-Microsoft browsers. If you're using Mozilla or Opera, you'll have to get a hex editor and change your User-Agent string and pretend you're using IE. Is this lawsuit material?
posted on Oct 25, 2001 - View this thread

ESPN teams up with MSN First the Justice Department folds, and now this: “ESPN.com’s sports content will be uniquely integrated with MSN and will carry MSN branding and links throughout the ESPN.com site.” Is it really a surprise? Will it really make a difference?
posted on Sep 6, 2001 - View this thread

MSN blocks its subscribers from sending mail with non-Outlook mail clients, as of last week. Like AOL, MSN hasn't allowed its subscribers to check their MSN mail with non-MS mail clients since the beginning. Last April, they banned access to non-MSN SMTP servers (to block spam relaying), but you could still send mail to other ISPs through MSN's SMTP server using your mail client of choice with a simple fix. Now, you can only do so if you switch to Outlook or Outlook Express (quietly announced on their site and via e-mail). All others (Eudora, Pegasus, Agent, Yahoo Mail, Netscape Messenger) are left cold. (more inside...)
posted on Jul 31, 2001 - View this thread

Physics problem A "Discovery" program for kids at MSN.com explores the physics of skydiving, specifically the trajectory of an object dropped from a moving plane. Problem is, their demonstration animation looks completely phucked. More inside...
posted on Jan 29, 2001 - View this thread

Microsoft’s network is hacked It's gotta be tough for MSNBC to report this...
posted on Oct 27, 2000 - View this thread

I don't recall having heard from anybody that the consumer experience of getting online required redefinition.
posted on Oct 5, 2000 - View this thread

Slate launches a redesign ... but I think it's a little thin, content-wise.
posted on Sep 29, 2000 - View this thread

Does anyone really dig the new MSN? I am not a member of the Church of Microsoft but I do really like what they have done with the new MSN. I'm not talking about just the web site but the overall experience with the MSN Preview 2.0. I think they may be in a position to really give AOL a run for the money.
posted on Sep 11, 2000 - View this thread

Friends, family seek "Left Eye". If my friends referred to me as "Left Eye" I would have dumped them, too. But seriously, how does someone famous just disappear like this, especially in celebrity-crazed America?
posted on Sep 11, 2000 - View this thread

Ever wondered how much it would cost to have your listing pop up on a particular MSN search? According to Micros~1's keywords.com (as of a few minutes ago), you can get sex for $795.20/month, mp3 for $175.66, and Bill Gates for a mere $8.96 a month!
posted on May 23, 2000 - View this thread

The new MSN logo (the butterfly) is quite attractive.
posted on Mar 10, 2000 - View this thread

Today's Davenetics (it's a newsletter) noticed a flurry of wireless deals came about today. AOL is planning mobile versions of instant messenger, email, and other AOL services, Microsoft is working on mobile MSN and Hotmail, while Amazon has unveiled their phone portal to shopping. Looks like we will soon be reminiscing about the good old days when the internet used silly wires and cables.
posted on Feb 28, 2000 - View this thread

Mars, the next version of MSN, is just around the corner. It's obviously an AOL clone, giving new users a view of the internet filtered for ease of use. My opinion of it is split. On the one hand, there's nothing wrong with making a useful, straight-forward interface that anyone can use. In fact that's a holy grail for UI designers. But the interface is a bit much, taking up over a third of the screen real estate, and it will no doubt funnel users into all of the MSN websites. Will MSN users know the rest of the internet is out there?
posted on Feb 27, 2000 - View this thread

Bantu is the holy grail of instant messaging apps. The people behind it have been working on this for a while, and they're now offering a web-based, java client that can talk to ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo instant message clients. If it were a client side application, I'd probably use it, I'm not a big fan of leaving a browser window open all the time. Another drawback is that it can't reach AIM users.
posted on Feb 20, 2000 - View this thread

The bandwidth speed test over at MSN seems to be the most accurate one I've used so far. It gave out statistics that are very close to what I expected, and didn't choke just because I'm on a T3. (thanks blogblog)
posted on Jan 13, 2000 - View this thread

AOL and Microsoft are resorting to playground antics. I downloaded the new MS messenger when it came out last Thursday, and I've already gotten three patches for it, each time it works with AOL users for just a few hours. I wonder how long they'll continue the dueling banjos thing.
posted on Jul 26, 1999 - View this thread