International Herald Tribune
12-03-2004
Google and Microsoft were to separately introduce enhanced information-sharing services for Internet users on Thursday. Microsoft plans for the first time to offer a service called MSN Spaces, which will enable users to create personal Web logs, or blogs. It will also offer an updated version of the company's instant messaging program, MSN Messenger. Google is bringing out a second version of its Google Groups service, based on Usenet, the online message archive, which it acquired in 2001. The new version of Groups is intended to make it easier for Internet users to manage lists for online discussion groups and create both public or private discussion groups on any topic. Usenet, a contraction of the phrase ''Users Network,'' was originally an electronic bulletin board system designed in 1979 by a small group at Duke University. The system, later blended into the Internet, is the largest collection of posted online messages. Google said the Groups service was now the company's third-largest source for advertising revenue behind its Web and image search services. Both America Online and Yahoo also offer discussion groups, but they do not have an archive as large as the complete Usenet collection. Google has overcome one of the stumbling blocks that hamstrung pioneering efforts in building online communities, said Howard Rheingold, a writer who was involved in several early online communities, including the Well and Electric Minds. ''Previously the problem with ad-supported online communities was the lack of a middleman,'' he said, noting that Google is making online communities financially sustainable. Microsoft, meanwhile, appears to be focusing on a younger audience with its test version of MSN Spaces, a blogging service that was first introduced in Japan six months ago. The service also includes music and picture-sharing capabilities. MSN said it expected to generate revenue both from direct advertising and from connection time, and in the future by selling online storage capacity. ''This is taking blogging mainstream,'' said Phil Holden, director of MSN Communication Services. Microsoft has also added ''winks'' and ''nudges'' to the ''emoticons'' on its new Messenger 7 program. Traditional ''emoticons'' are facial expressions made with certain keyboard symbols to send smiles or frowns in text messages. The new wink will send an animated graphic via Messenger, and the nudge will cause the Messenger window on a receiving computer's screen to vibrate. ''You can think of these as emoticons on steroids,'' Holden said. While he acknowledged that these new features could prove annoying to some users, Holden said they were likely to create a positive response from younger users.
2004 Copyright International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com
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