Caydel’s SEO Blog

I’ve posted the ads I’ve noticed in the rotation so far - if you see some I have missed, let me know, and I will update this post with the new photos.

If I were Linux.com, I would be starting to think about removing the DoubleClick ads, and perhaps begin direct selling advertisements to companies that provide enterprise consulting and support in Linux. One of the main misconceptions about Linux is there is a lack of support available to corporate customers were they to make the switch. Providing advertisement to companies offering these services would immediately go some ways to alleviating these concerns. Additionally, Microsoft’s FUD campaign would have one less outlet.

On another note, this reminds me of the time when OpenOffice.org plastered Redmond transit routes frequented by Microsoft employees with ads promoting the OpenOffice.org software.

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Yesterday, Microsoft and Linspire Inc. announced for the small Linux vendor. Linspire develops and markets the Linspire distribution of Linux, marketed as ‘The World’s Easiest Desktop Linux’.

In the terms of the deal, Microsoft has required that Linspire set the Windows Live search engine as the default web search on all future copies and releases of the Linspire OS. In return, Microsoft will grant Linspire permission to use Truetype Fonts, the Windows Media codecs, and has agreed to waive their right to patent litigation against Linspire Inc, along with the users of their Operating System.

This move is bound to make some waves in the Search industry for the two things it signifies:

1. Microsoft is beginning to really throw weight behind their search product.. Ok, this isn’t exactly earth shattering, but the point is that through their patent-backed extortion practices, Microsoft could have gotten just about anything they wanted. However, all they asked for was the default search. What does this imply for the future?
2. It’s an implicit recognition of the potential threat Linux is posing to Microsoft. Although the searches generated by Linspire before users reset the default search to Google probably will not make up a. overly significant portion of Microsoft’s search volume. On the other hand, this seems like just the first in a series of battles Microsoft can fight against Corporate-backed linux distributions. Will Microsoft be cutting similar Search deals with other corporate-backed Linux vendors?

Linspire is a distribution with a lot of potential. It is not aimed at the geek crowd; rather, it seeks to imitate Windows to a certain extent in order to make the switch to Linux as simple as possible for businesses and individuals. In real world terms, it means that the users are your average business people - salesmen, secretaries, and the like. In practice, such users used Internet Explorer and Microsoft Search regularly; they would probably happily continue to use Microsoft Live search if that came as the default on Lindows OS.

This is not Linspire Inc.’s first encounter with Microsoft. Back in 2002(?), Microsoft filed suit against the company forcing them to change their name from ‘Lindows Inc.’ as part of a $20 million settlement. Therefore, they were likely an easy target, since they already knew the legal weight Microsoft could throw at them.

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It appears that Microsoft is starting to get protective over their digital property rights. Recently, they have begun a new set of lawsuits against companies, and individuals who have registered large numbers of domains that may possibly infringe on Microsoft-owned Trademarks, such as WindowsLiveTutorial.com and HaloChamps.com.

Once again, a company getting retarded over digital rights. Don’t get me wrong - if someone had a website corresponding to a product name of mine, then I would push to get it back. In Microsoft’s case, I could understand if the were pushing for XBox.com, Windows.com, MSN.com or similar names. But bu targetting sites such as HaloChamps.com, they are shooting themselves in the foot.

While the vast majority of the sites which are being targetted in the lawsuits are merely parked domains which contain Microsoft trademarks, think about what Microsoft is accomplishing with this - in essence, they are killing of their communities.

How many community websites do you see which contain game or product names in the domain or title of the website? I can think of hundreds! By scaring people from using their trademarks, Microsoft is going to stink community support of their products. Who wants to open a website, if they have to be afraid of using certain names and titles in their site lest the Microsoft monkey jumps on their back?

Now, if someone was pretending a direct association with Microsoft ont their site, that would be another story alltogether. And I don’t think they are going after existing, growing community sites. Rather, they are targetting cybersquatters. Nevertheless, I think much of what I have said above with respect to community acceptance holds true.

I am tempted to purchase a Microsoft trademark-infringing domain, and see what type of a response I get - it could be fun to get a C & D notice. As it is, I wonder what will happen to IE7.com… In one of my favourite ironies of the year, some smartass registered it and placed an oversized Firefox banner on it, pointing to the Firefox website….

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I just came across this story on Digg -

OpenOffice’s anti-MSFT bus ads in Redmond

“Sun Microsystems has posted extremely pointed OpenOffice.org ads on the sides of transit buses that serve Redmond. Slogans include, ‘Stop giving a bully your lunch money,’ ‘Compatible with expensive, closed, memory-loving software,’ and ‘Prehistoric reptilians welcome.’ Booya!”

Well, I really thought this was great. Wade Rockett posted on ‘The New Marketing‘ that this morning, he began to see a variety of ads for OpenOffice.org’s Office suite posted by Sun Microsystems on busses across the city of Bellavue, which is very close to Redmond.

The ads, which appear to be targetted at local business people, and possibly even microsoft employees, focus on the many of the benefits of OpenOffice.org over the defacto standard, Microsoft Office.

Of course, this move hasn’t gone unnoticed by Microsoft. On ‘The .NET Sweatshop’, Microsoft Developer SandyK fires back with some cutting remarks about Sun.

The ads have been posted below. These are from the flickr gallery by Wade Rockett. If you want any of the T-Shirts shown in the ads, you can get them from Sun Microsystems’ Sun Open Source Store.

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So, in the latest website I’ve been building at http://www.outfrontps.com, I just ran into an issue previously unknown to me…

Usually, when I work with graphics, I like to use the .PNG format. Now, I am not a graphics designer, so it’s not like I regularily use transparencies and whatnot for graphics. Anyways, I created a nice-looking header that relied on it’s transparent background to site over the current header background. Unfortunately, because IE is retarded, it cannot display the transparencies correctly. In fact, it does an amazingly horrible job of it.

So, I tried it in a .GIF, and that was unacceptably poor quality. So the final solution was to overlay it over an imitation of the existing background. That is barely satisfactory….

Why can’t IE just get with the rest of the world on standards? Without even bringing up CSS, IE has failed in many departments. Of course, this is no surprise to any web developer. Everyone has designed a page that they then have to butcher with all kinds of hacks just to get it to work right on IE.

Luckily, IE7 is supposed to be alot better, at least in terms of CSS implementation. The thing I am most excited  about is the fact that according to the IEBlog, there is going to be a complete implementation of the .PNG standard in IE7. So, hopefully within a few months, that problem is one that can just rest in the annals of history.

This is the one thing I can be thankful about Microsoft - once IE7 is out, most Windows XP users will automatically upgrade to it. Of course, there will always be legacy users, but if the majority finally supports the format, I see no reason not to go with it.

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