There's been some talk in blogosphere about this, but I just had to say something about the way Google takes over the error page when you type in an incorrect URL into the browser. The entire top portion of the error page is basically sponsored links for which Google makes money. The actual web search results are way down at the bottom. If this was the other way round, there might be some defense around suggesting things you might be looking for, but to have the sponsored links so prominently placed shows that is not their prime intention. It's just bad bad faith for a company that purports to "do no evil".

My laptop is a Dell and issued by Microsoft and I've tried to follow the "uninstall instructions" Google recommends (look for the application named "Browser Address Error Redirector") but can't seem to find it. There's nothing inherently harmful about what they are doing, but it feels like someone who forces themselves in front of you and asks for some spare change. I would expect a little more dignity from Google at this stage.

Quote

Google Operating System: Google's Browser Address Error Redirector

Nothing to do with work, but I am so excited because Armaan is beginning to cruise! 

  
Video: Armaan Walking May 17th 2007

.... Since I last blogged.

It has been a whirlwind last few weeks. I was on holiday in New York and London, then focus groups in Sao Paulo, then babysitting a sick child in Seattle. The last one wasn't so glamorous, but Microsoft has a home care service that sends someone to help take care of your baby so I managed to catch up on email a little. But it was a shock to get back to the office after four weeks out!

I was pleasantly shocked by quite a few things. While I was away, we shipped what is the first minor release on the run up to our main release this year, internally codenamed M1. What we released (described in much more detail on The Spacecraft) is only the tip of the iceberg but has generated some good coverage, particularly around our platform and developer story (Techcrunch and News.com). Our marketing team has also been hard at work with some pretty cool campaigns and the most recent one (Road Trip) has already generated quite a few entries in the casting cities. All in all, I'm pretty excited by our plans this year.

But what I am most excited about is the concerted effort across Windows Live to have things work together better, and a lot of it hinges on Spaces as the web sharing pillar for the network. I am writing this blog entry from the Windows Live Mail desktop beta for example, which includes an easy way to blog from your email, read feeds, check out friends and access profiles. The new Windows Live for Windows Mobile released with T-Mobile makes it even easier to access Spaces from your phone and adds to the great browse experience we already have. And that's just what I can talk about publicly. There is so much more in store.

On the marketing front, I think we have to do a better job of explaining how Spaces is positioned in the exploding social networking category. Spaces is one of the better kept secrets on the web given the size of the user base. Almost 1 in 7 Internet users around the world visit Spaces every month but few in the US are aware of it. Part of it is because Spaces automatically gets compared to the more open social networks out there (and I suspect a little Microsoft dislike too), but we really don't see ourselves targeting the same type of experience as a MySpace for example. Our job next year will be to bring that differentiation to life.

I am both nervous and excited by the scale of what we have in the product and marketing pipeline. Shipping a major set of services to the now 51 countries that Spaces is available in won't be easy, but it's that challenge that keeps me coming to work every day.

And I can't believe I would be the only one to think like that. So for us, Jott is a pretty cool solution. I wonder what the exit strategy will be for these guys though as it will be more powerful in a broader integrated suite. Or could one of the suites replicate this functionality. Either way, best of luck to Shree as this is a great idea.