It seems Microsoft is trying to kill three birds with one stone with the latest release of their Internet Explorer browser. IE8, dubbed “Porn Mode”, boasts a wide array of unprecedented browser based privacy controls for internet surfers. In addition to bringing serious competition against rival Firefox to the table, it also takes a stab at undermining Google’s Adsense advertising program which has been under scrutiny by web security experts as potential spyware. Don’t think for one minute that Microsoft’s rival Mozilla isn’t working on integrating similiar features to it’s Firefox browser, the New York Times reported that similar controls are slated for release in the next version of Firefox.
According to a Fox News report, Microsoft’s latest advancement in their browser software is poised to take a serious chunk out of Google’s online earnings…
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Microsoft’s latest Internet browser includes a piece of software that allows Internet users to hide the audit trail of websites they have visited.
The InPrivate feature on Internet Explorer 8, nicknamed “porn mode”, allows users to conceal the sites they have viewed at the click of a button. Once the setting is chosen, others using the same computer will not be able to see which sites have been accessed. Other browsers have similar functions, but this one is far more prominent. Although casual users cannot see the previous user’s search history, authorities such as the police will be able to access it if necessary. The software may be hailed as a victory for privacy campaigners, but it represents a serious threat to Microsoft’s bigger rival, Google. In allowing surfers to access websites but conceal their browsing behaviour, Microsoft prevents Internet sites from collecting information about their users — data that is then used to sell targeted advertising. Marketing companies try to target adverts at Internet users whom they believe may be interested in certain goods or services. Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft are fighting for bigger shares of the world’s Internet advertising market, which is estimated to be worth $40 billion a year and is expected to double in value by 2010. Google, which is the world’s biggest Internet company, holds the lion’s share of the online advertising market, leaving Yahoo! and Microsoft to hold the second and third slots. So lucrative is the Internet advertising market that Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo! for $47.5 billion this year solely to compete with Google. Yahoo! rejected Microsoft’s approaches, even though the software company had been willing to pay 72 per cent more than its share price. |
How will this impact Adsense publishers?
Internet publishers who rely on Google Adsense as their primary source of income from their sites are few and far between these days. It probably won’t make much difference to most because the vast majority of online publishers have already been migrating away from Adsense due to Google’s lack of publisher support coupled with their quickness to ban an account without explaination and confiscate funds. As if that weren’t enough to drive publishers away, recent forum discussions between prominent webmasters have shown that Adsense earnings are down across the board while the cost of Adwords advertising has risen.
Does this mean Adsense is going to go away?
It’s doubtful that Adsense will disappear from the face of the internet any time soon, however, expect to see fewer and fewer high quality sites displaying the contextual advertisments. Let’s face it, Google had the goose that laid the golden egg in the palm of their hands but they squeezed the goose dry.
How does this benefit Microsoft?
Microsoft has taken matters into their own hands by following up claims made by security experts regarding Google’s policy of collecting internet surfers’ personal data when they are accessing Google’s internet applications such as Adsense, Analytics, Webmasters Tools, Gmail and others. It’s almost impossible for internet users to avoid landing on pages with concealed Google tracking codes and giving up personal data which Google uses to develop marketing strategies based on their web surfing history.
Microsoft is no stranger to privacy concerns from end users and the software giant has learned the hard way that collecting personal information is a big no-no. Google is a relative newcomer in the history of the internet and their rise to prominence has been hearlded by a “do no evil” motto which internet users gleefully embraced. However, the halo that once shined has become tarnished and Microsoft must have been sitting back, waiting for the opportunity to dethrone the child kings and banish them to the nether realms as punishement for their misdeeds.
Will people stop using Firefox?
I seriously doubt that any serious Firefox supporters (such as myself) will even be tempted ot make a switch to IE8. Although many developers keep a copy of IE on their machines for cross-browser compatible internet development, it’s unlikely any new features in IE8 will make the Firefox fans sign off on their favorite browser.
IE users are so dumb. They think every little thing is going to invade their privacy. So what if they turn off ads then I will make the script to detect it and boot them from my site.
Adsense is the biggest scamning the history of the internet. I was barely making anything on Adsense on my blog and I got a notice that my accoutn was suspended due to invalid clicks? I was using for almost 2 weeks? Should I even bother with the appeal? Has anyone been successful, to be totally honest, I didnt even click on my links much, I just threw the scripts on there to see how this stuff works and bam im gone! So its no big deal that I lost it but still, that was like $15 i didnt have before! This happen alot?
If this new IE does block ads like adsense - won’t it block out ads like adbrite, bidvertiser and chitika too ??
how can it just target adsense and no others ????
I do not think IE relevant these days. Its very rare i ever use it although like most people i have it installed.
No doubt Google will come up with a counter measure that will invade our privacy even further.
It appears that Google has taken the title of Big Brother and now use the novel 1984 as their inspiration.
Seems odd Bill isnt taking that path too.
I can’t see myself ever using IE again in ernest. I still have it installed on a couple of machines for testing, but I tend to use Firefox and Flock 95% of the time. I just wish that Mozilla would do something about their memory leak as even tweaked up I find I have to restart my browser every now and then to free up RAM.
@Doctors - Adsense can be quite profitable depending on your niche and the traffic you get. I think you answered your own question with “I didnt even click on my links much” - Google count any clicks on your own links as fraud (which it is!) and will obviously suspend your account for that.
@Jason - Bill Gates is no longer in charge, he stepped down as chairman last month!
Of course MS will keep trying to win back market share, but I see them slipping further and further. My stats show less than 10% of my users use IE now, although I tend to have a techie/business audience - I think that’s the way it’s going!
Bill
Great post! Thank you for taking the time to write these awesome posts! Looks like you have alot of great info on this site its gonna take me a while to read it all but I’m gonna do my best. BTW there is no way I would ever stop using FF, I do use IE sometimes when FF has issues with some sites, but most of the time I will just use IE Tab. Thanks!
I think a lot of the people that surf the web looking to buy merchandise still use IE.
Most people who have been around awhile and spend lots of time online use FireFox. But then they are less likely to make a purchase.
I doubt this will influence a lot of the affiliate market, unless they ship it per default. The same discussion came around when it was fresh to browse with Javascript turned off, but look how that panned out.
Totally agree about the Adwords up / Adsense down though… it’s horrible these days. Makes you wonder when Google will push harder for CPA-based advertising.
This is a typical Microsoft innovation - something aimed at hindering competitors rather than actually providing something of real value.
I’m not convinced it’ll make much of a difference to AdSense or other advertising programmes.