A stay of execution for us Internet users.

Gaming-Module · Post by **Gaming-Module** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 9:27 am

June 28, 2001
Wall Street Journal

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Microsoft Will Abandon
Controversial Smart Tags
By WALTER S. MOSSBERG

THREE WEEKS AGO, I reported that Microsoft Corp. was planning to include in its forthcoming Windows XP operating system a new capability that could forcibly alter the appearance of millions of Web pages. The new feature, called Smart Tags, would allow the company's Internet Explorer browser to turn any word on any Web site into a link to Microsoft's own sites and services, or to any that Microsoft favors.

These links would appear without the knowledge or permission of a Web site's owners, and would encourage readers to leave the original site and go to a Microsoft site, or some other one built into the Smart Tags -- whether or not the new site had better or more useful information.

That disclosure touched off a wave of criticism, even though Microsoft said it would turn the feature off by default and would provide computer code that Web site owners could insert into their pages to block the links. Many saw the feature as part of a hidden agenda for Windows XP: Microsoft's attempt to use its dominance in Windows and the Web browser to support a massive new push to attract subscribers to its Web-based services.

Wednesday, after weighing this hostile reaction, Microsoft decided to kill the planned feature, at least for this year. Officials at the company said Smart Tags won't appear in the final version of Windows XP, due out Oct. 25, or in the stand-alone version of the new Web browser, called Internet Explorer 6, designed to run on older versions of Windows as well.

Among other things, Microsoft executives feared the controversy over Smart Tags would overshadow what they see as the many positive features in Windows XP and mar the launch of the new operating system, which is to be one of the company's flashiest and costliest marketing efforts ever.

Microsoft continues to defend the Smart Tag idea in principle, and the company plans to work toward including it in a future release of Windows or of the browser, in some more acceptable form. And the feature will still appear in the next widely distributed "beta," or prerelease, version of the XP operating system expected next month because it was too late to yank it from that particular version. The Smart Tag feature also showed up in a public preview version of the browser released last week.

Jim Allchin, Microsoft's group vice president in charge of both Windows and the Web browser, said he made the decision to kill Smart Tags in the browser because "we got way more feedback than we ever expected."

"We hadn't balanced the legitimate concerns of the content providers with the benefits we think Smart Tags can bring to users," he said in an interview.

Mr. Allchin said he remains "a hard-core believer" that some version of Smart Tags has potential and would be good for users. "We need to sit down with everybody involved and make sure it's a win-win," he said. "I just ran out of time to do that." He said his team would "regroup" and try to redesign the feature when it's not under a release deadline.

The decision doesn't affect a similar Smart Tags feature included in Microsoft's new Office XP productivity suite that went on sale in May. The Office Smart Tags haven't attracted the same kind of criticism because they appear only in locally created documents, not inside published Web pages belonging to others.

Microsoft deserves credit for dropping the Smart Tags plan, despite Mr. Allchin's caveats. Any company with the kind of power Microsoft has accumulated is constantly tempted to believe that its ideas are naturally sound, that criticism is merely jealousy or knee-jerk grousing, that serving its own business interests also serves the pubic good. The fact that Microsoft has risen above these instincts and listened to the views of other players on the Web is commendable.

So how would the planned browser Smart Tags have worked, and why did they upset so many people?

When you have Smart Tags turned on in Internet Explorer and open any Web page, squiggly purple lines instantly appear under certain types of words. In the beta versions of the software, these Microsoft-imposed underlines showed up beneath the names of companies, sports teams and colleges, but other words could be used as well.

If you place your cursor on the underlined word, an icon appears, and if you click on the icon, a small window opens to display links to sites offering more information. In the beta versions, most of the Smart Tag links attached to company names take readers to Microsoft's MoneyCentral site, while others launch Microsoft's search engine, packed with plugs for Microsoft services.

Some at Microsoft, and elsewhere, couldn't see the problem. After all, they said, Microsoft wasn't hacking into people's servers and rewriting their Web sites. It was merely adding a useful tool, similar to "annotation" programs offered by firms like Atomica and NBCi.

But this reasoning ignores the fact that Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer browser is like a television set, or a digital printing press, for the Web. Its function is to render -- accurately and neutrally -- all Web pages that follow standard programming. By virtue of its near-monopoly position in the browser market, Microsoft has a moral obligation to assure that readers can see Web pages as they were published, without alteration.

The decision on which words would be turned into links, where and when such links would appear, and where the links would take readers, is an editorial and business decision that belongs solely to the creator and owner of a Web site -- not to Microsoft or even to the reader.

Using the browser to plant unwanted and unplanned content on these pages -- especially links to Microsoft's own sites -- is the equivalent of a printing company adding its own editorial and advertising messages to the margins of a book it has been hired to print. It is like a television-set maker adding its own images and ads to any show the set is receiving.

Microsoft has a perfect right to produce and sell its own Web content with its own points of view. But it is just plain wrong for the company to use the browser to seize editorial control and to steal readers from other sites. The company's Web businesses should stand on their own in the marketplace.

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft redesigns the browser Smart Tags, if it does decide to try. Any new version would have to be very different. I don't doubt that there is some role for user annotation of Web sites. But it will be hard for the company that controls the digital printing press to do this in a way that doesn't seem self-serving. That is especially true in light of Microsoft's new initiative, ominously called Hailstorm, to create a new subscription-based Web business for itself.

But Microsoft executives have done the right thing this week in killing the feature. Those of us who attack them when they push things too far need to praise them when they admit mistakes.

downhill · Post by **downhill** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 9:37 am

Wow..thanks for the read, Macho-Module.

I've read about other features of XP that are making a few stomachs sour, but not this.

What grips me is Microsoft's stand that they are only doing these things to make computing easier. Even though it's obvious to most, that it's to create a bigger stranglehold.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 9:42 am

Ok they siad they planned to disable it but include it anyway WTF how dumb does MS think we are?!?!?!?!?!

minir · Post by **minir** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 9:43 am

Hi ya Macho-Module

An interesting and Scary read

Thanks

larry

Gaming-Module · Post by **Gaming-Module** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 10:09 am

Any company with the kind of power Microsoft has accumulated is constantly tempted to believe that its ideas are naturally sound, that criticism is merely jealousy or knee-jerk grousing, that serving its own business interests also serves the pubic good.

This is what I would like to emphasize. I wonder if they actually think this or just do what they want regardless.

XxTiZZuLuxX · Post by **XxTiZZuLuxX** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 11:06 am

Thats very interesting. Windows XP is going to be a new step in tech I bet. Might lead to some kool things.

TheAntipop · Post by **TheAntipop** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 11:12 am

HOLY CRAP I GOT THAT RIGHT NOW I POSTED A THREAD ABOUT IT I HAVE TO CTRL+ALT+DEL TO GET IT TO STOP!!!!!

little words like job and car and computer turn into links i'll give screenshots if anybody wants to see.

if they canceld it how did i get it and i dont even have xp or ie6?

mikemean · Post by **mikemean** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 11:16 am

I WANNA SEE

BaLa · Post by **BaLa** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 11:39 am

this is some BS.......
if they continue doing this MS wil destroy itself...at least for the experienced users.....

TheAntipop · Post by **TheAntipop** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 12:02 pm

TheAntipop · Post by **TheAntipop** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 12:03 pm

it didnt come out clear im gonna try again

TheAntipop · Post by **TheAntipop** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 12:14 pm

ok here is what happens when they put a link on top of a link it will give you a choice to follow their link or the link that you ment to click on. it also does this in regular text and its not saved as smart tags in your computer its ezulamain i have to ctrl+alt+del and end task everytime i start my computer to make it go away.

Gaming-Module · Post by **Gaming-Module** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 12:42 pm

That is just bull$hit and a half.

The sad thing is, is that the ignorant PC users will eat it up like candy. That is the reason MS makes such decisions, because they look at things from the novice perspective.

Most average people will welcome such a feature, while not even realizing the infringement on webmasters and the hassle to those of us who dont want such functions. They will see it as just another way of making them have to learn less about computers and the Internet.

Exactly what MS needs to remain in power, masses of ignorant and unquestioning customers.

TheAntipop · Post by **TheAntipop** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 1:57 pm

hey can anybody tell me how they got this on my comp if im not using win XP or IE6?

Biketec · Post by **Biketec** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 3:34 pm

Originally posted by TheAntipop
hey can anybody tell me how they got this on my comp if im not using win XP or IE6?

(picture from http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com)

Jason

Tryn · Post by **Tryn** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 5:47 pm

You Must have a different Version Of smart tags here is What Mine look Like. I kind of like them they only work for company names Right Now. but I think it is wrong for MS to just throw them on every page. I have IE 6.0.2479.006

In the internet options under advance there is an option to turn them on or off.

tryn

Gaming-Module · Post by **Gaming-Module** » Thu Jun 28, 2001 6:45 pm

Just heard on the news that they are going to be replacing the judge that had been hearing the Microsoft monopoly case. The news said he was found to be "overly biased".

The report also said that MS is urging the government to come to an agreement.

I will try to find more on this.