Microsoft still doesn’t get it

Ever since Google launched Google News I have been in heaven. I can get my news quickly and easily as well as use their fantastic search technologies to drill down where I care most when I see something of interest.

When the Brooke Wilberger abduction happened, we all here in Corvallis were pretty interested in finding out as much as we could when we could. Enter Google News and their notifications. I could be notified when new stories hit or updated information becomes available. It didn’t matter where or who, it was all about getting me what I wanted when I wanted it.

Microsoft announced that it was launching its own news aggregator service in hopes of stealing some of Google’s thunder. In the Washington Post today there is an article about how the news site gives favorable placement to articles from Microsoft’s own MSNBC.com news site. Here we see again Microsoft thinking like a big company that has to leverage its position with one service to help another. That’s all well and good but I predict the service will flop. Why do I think that? Value.

The value of the Google news service is obvious; it aggregates news with no bias. As a reader of news, the last thing I want is bias. Knowing there is no bias means I’m more likely to use the service (and more importantly shun Microsoft’s). The value created is two-fold; not only do I get value as a consumer but Google gets my eyeballs to advertise to. To me, that’s a small price to pay for unbiased reporting.

Microsoft needs to learn that value moving forward for them will be created in the communities they can foster and help. Not in how much traffic they can push to each of their sisters companies.