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Microsoft is turning to customers for advice on how to build an online advertising platform - four years after it started. The company has announced its Publisher Leadership Council, whose members will consult with Microsoft on the construction of a "next-generation" advertising platform called PubCenter. Microsoft announced …

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  1. John McGhie
    Jobs Horns

    There you go... THAT's why Microsoft is truggling...

    Yet again, Microsoft is asking "customers" to design its applications. Applications it hopes will be purchased by "users". By "users" it means "you and me". By customers it means something else.

    Microsoft is struggling because users are discovering that its products work increasingly badly, are increasingly unreliable, and increasingly less trustworthy. To us.

    Which is what you would expect if they were designed by people who are trying to do things "to" us, instead of "for" us. People such as Microsoft identifies as "customers". Really: anyone who spends more than 100 million on software...

    It's like allowing a real-estate salesman to design your house. A car salesman to design your car. Or a church to design your sex life.

    Oh wait... They do! And we don't want the result! Funny that...

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  2. Spoonguard
    Coat

    PubCenter....

    Conceived in a Pub?

    It seems unlikely....

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  3. rob
    Jobs Halo

    We have no clue.. maybe you can help us?

    This is laughable.. All the money in the world and not a clue amongst them

    Steve, because he's a true genius!

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  4. raving angry loony
    Coat

    just...

    Hey, if they want to find out how to improve their product, they could just Google "improve Microsoft".

    Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

    Yeah, the one with the embedded chair, thanks.

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  5. jake Silver badge

    Don't bother.

    "Microsoft is turning to customers for advice on how to build an online advertising platform"

    My advice? Don't bother. Nobody with a brain and money to spend pays any attention to advertising these days. Not just online, mind, I mean ANY advertising.

    Note the "and money to spend" ... Sure, you'll get the mouth-breathers clicking on ads, but none of them have two quarters^Wha'pennies to rub together these days. At some point, probably sooner rather than later, the advertisers are going to notice this and stop paying GooMSNoo! for ad placement. The market is going to tank. Mark my words ...

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  6. Tim Bates

    Note to MS...

    It's time to just give up. Seriously...

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Finally

    Someone finally grasped the problem! Halleluja! Trust is the problem, as in 'trusted partner'. You have to ask yourself, why won't people use Microsoft's search? Because we can't TRUST the search results. Because Microsoft always has a hidden agenda, in everything they do.

    What can they do to change this situation? I couldn't say really. Looking at it from my own perspective, what could convince me to use Microsoft's search? - nothing -. It's just never going to happen.

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  8. TeeCee Gold badge

    Easy answer.

    Tell your customers that you're not Evil and then squeeze 'em 'til the pips squeak.

    Change the algorithm that siphons cash out of their wallets whenever you think that they've worked out how to get the best out of it.

    Tell your users that you don't game the system, while gaming the system to keep your cash cows^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hpaying customers happy.

    But all this is an "irrelevance", of course.....

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  9. Charlie Barnes
    Thumb Up

    Pubcenter

    Pubcenter? I Like the sound of that. Could Microsoft have actually thought of something useful?

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  10. Geoff Mackenzie

    "Some key features of PubCenter are still on the whiteboard"

    Obviously ready for a release then.

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  11. DJ
    Coat

    But Microsoft can't do searches.

    Anyone that has tried to find an article on msdn with the msdn search will tell you that.

    I like the idea of PubCenter, although I like to call it a Bar . Two pints please landlord!

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  12. Robert Ramsay
    Joke

    Will they be serving drinks at this "PubCenter"?

    Bwahahaha! They couldn't even get the *name* right!

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Pubs? Spirits?

    Man, I wish it was Friday...

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  14. The Sceptic
    Thumb Down

    Bollocks to Microsoft

    Sorry but Microsoft can go play with themself. In the last two years their customer service has went from poor to pathetic. They must be the only organisation who listens to the customer then actively ignores them.

    Their licensing has went from unreasonable to extortion.

    Their kneecap of unlicensed system affecting licensed systems by accident is the final straw.

    They didn't listen over Vista (now rebranded for the dumb asses out there) - why change their corporate policy now!!

    Must be losing customer

    Yours sincerely,

    New Linux User

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  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    If you want to get your adverts seen ...

    ... then the first rule is ...

    NO FLASH

    NO animations

    No Silverlight

    No Blinking

    No Annoyances.

    Using any of the above almost guarantees that your users will adblock them. If you want people to see your adverts, its absolutely essential to stick to STATIC content that won't annoy your readers.

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  16. Eduard Coli
    Gates Horns

    Elephants

    Notice how evil multinationals refer to you as a customer when they want you to do their work for them for free but consumers when they are pushing a new license?

    What is an elephant? A horse designed by committee

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  17. Nicholas Ettel
    Linux

    @AC 10:56 GMT

    What does Friday have to do with anything?

    Beer now please, preferably an IPA or belgian wheat. :D

    Tux, because he drinks like a fish, too.

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  18. jake Silver badge

    @Nicholas Ettel

    > What does Friday have to do with anything?

    You are new here, aren't you? Stay, read, learn, then type.

    >Beer now please, preferably an IPA

    Lagunitas Maximas at elbow ...

    >or belgian wheat. :D

    Wheat? WHEAT??!?? Surely proper grain isn't THAT expensive in your part of the world?

    >Tux, because he drinks like a fish, too

    I think you typed "he drinks and likes fish, too". Or something like that.

    Icons are for AOLers.

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