Wow, so Microsoft says - we raised the bid from $31/share to $33/share.  Yahoo still decides to be stubborn and says, nope, we are worth more.  So, here we are.  When i read the email on Sat night from Ballmer, i had mixed emotions.  I really had feeling that this deal will go through and it was just matter of time.  However, when i read the news, i was kinda of glad that Ballmer decided what he decided.  I heard him at the company meeting on Thursday and it was apparent on his face that he was stressed out but he made sense and he was talking logically.  The best part was:  “i know what Yahoo is worth” and “Yahoo is NOT the strategy, it is part of the online strategy”.  So we’ll see how market reacts tomorrow to this announcement. 

So what did we learn from all these? 

1)  Microsoft is darn serious about online advertising and search

2)  Yahoo is willing to be sold to a highest bidder and has given up on fighting Google

3)  Google will do everything possible to steal the show and make MSFT look bad  [However, i must say G is really smart. G and Y are working together to make Y's search inventory like an auction system]

There we have it.  This kind of stuff makes being in online advertising world exciting.  Now, i just wish FB would figure something about it’s revenue stream.  G only has one competition at this point and it’s FB.  If FB were to go public tomorrow, i would so buy it’s stock.  I regret not buying G’s stock when it went public.

Anyway, now the question becomes:  How will market react to this announcement?  Will Y’s stock price go down (i believe it will significantly) and what will happen to MSFT’s stock price?  I read somewhere that Yahoo is doing everything possible to to get a deal with Google done before market opens on Monday to reduce the drop in it’s stock price.

Exciting times

T

After hearing so much about Joost and how it will change the way we watch TV, I decided to sign up for it.  Couple of days ago i got email from Joost asking me to beta test it.  Well i tried it.

My first impression went something like this:  cooool.  this is nice.  Windows popped open went full screen and video was clear.  Nice interface, took me while to figure out the navigation, especially to find the power button.  I still haven’t found a minimize button.  Below are some screen shots:

As soon as it was launched, it played an ad for transformers:

Notice the navigation on all four sides of the screen.

Upon clicking on “My Channels”, see below.  I like the menu, pretty slick.

Channel Catalog allows you to choose category.  Whatever you feel like watching be it films, documentary, music, sports, etc.

I was able to find “News Radio” and while watching it i noticed this little box on my bottom right corner for “Army” (The sponsor).  Box disappeared after few seconds and just like on TV there was a 30 second ad from the sponsor - they have to make money somehow.  I did not find the ad that intrusive, it came and disappeared in few seconds.  As long they don’t show ads every few mins and interupt my viewing, i’m ok with seeing ads once in a while.  It would be really awesome if ads were relevant to whatever program was talking about, that should have great CTR.  Also, instead of showing ads randomly if Joost can display ads based on demography of people who are most likely to watch that program, advertisers should see higher return on their investments.

I saw lot of options for international viewers as well - but ads got to be more relevant.  This is Internet, should be able to at least guess the demographic of the consumer, also since programs are pre-recorded Joost must find a way to match advertiser with content of the program.

And then Joost crashes on me :)  It is in beta so it is completely acceptable, that’s why they call it Beta.

Upon re-launching it, Now if you click on “My Joost” there is a setting called “Widget Menu”- see below:

I think this is awesome.  This menu gives lot of options to the users, love the instant messaging and “blog this” capabilities, very nice.  And just like Windows sidebar you can move the widgets around on your screen.

One thing i don’t like is it’s obsession with going full screen, it’s kind of annoying.  Well, when i went into advanced settings i found great control features. And option that allowed me to uncheck “full screen” box.  I also noticed great security features that parents might find useful, such as entering pin.

Other thing that annoyed me quite a bit is it’s navigation, how do you bring it back again and how do you make it disappear?  Still can’t figure it out and not so user friendly.

So let’s do SWOT analysis:

Strengths:  good video quality, nice interface, web 2.0 feeling

Weaknesses:  Navigation, full screen, load time

Opportunities:  more quality programs or programs that consumers might enjoy watching, partner with TV networks to put their episodes on Joost, specifically for chatting feature allow user to access their AOL, MSN, yahoo buddy lists (now that’d be cool), show ads relevant to the program

Threats:  Lack of choice in programs, other IPTV providers, inability to convince big networks to put quality programs on Joost

I still can’t find minimize button.  If you want an invite to Joost, please let me know.

Overall:  Not bad, pretty cool.

Tejas

That’s right, May 24th will go down in history as a day when Facebook became a Man.  Today Facebook announced “Facebook Platform”, where it is giving amazing control to developers, and users where they will be able to add third party apps, and lot of other good stuff.

So here is what will happen next:

This confirms that Facebook is really smart, Yahoo is really regretting not buying Facebook when it had the chance.  So now Google and Microsoft will be fighting each other to buy these guys.  Let’s see how high they can go. 

But the real question is, does Facebook want to be bought out?  I

Here’s what I think:  i don’t think Facebook will be bought out by either one of the two giants.  It will go on its own.  It’s a great social networking site, way better than MySpace, clean interface, no junk, no spam, users love it, advertisers love the target audience that uses Facebook, what else do you need?  It now needs it own search engine or search engine that will provide it results (Go with Live.com ).

If FaceBook want to be bought out, Microsoft should do everything possible to buy them and not let this deal go to Google or anyone else for that matter.  Of course my opinions are biased.

Other news that shadowed Facebook announcement was MSN lost market share, not 0.5 but whole 1%, how in the world?  Acquisition of aQuantive will not bring up that market share.  Let’s see.

Tejas

I’m regular reader of Mark Cuban’s blog.  How many CEO’s you know has time to blog on regular basis, not that many.  Yesterday he posted a blog entry titled: “Donald - Need a Job?”.  That was sooo hilarious.  It’s amazing how this guy has so much guts and speaks his mind without worrying about what other people might think of him.  It is great.  Way to go Mark - You rock.

Wow, this is third post in 3 days

Tejas

What in the world is going on?  Everyone is buying they get their hands on and might I add paying way more than its worth.  Yes it is known fact that more eyeballs equals more advertising dollars, but buying everything you get your hand on, reminds lot of people of dot com era.  Recently, there is lot of buzz in the industry of online advertising bubble bursting.  Are critics just being overly cautious or are they right?

After acquisition of aQuantive for $6 Billion by Microsoft, news of Yahoo purchasing Bebo.com for $1 billion is in talks and Google going after Feedburner.  Let’s see who else is left in the market?  Facebook.com - now that’s the site i really like and i believe Yahoo was in talks with them few months ago but apparently it didn’t work out.  Main question would be, if Facebook were to be on sale, how much would it go for?  Easily in billions considering how three giants (Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft) have open their wallets to everyone and anyone.  Craziness if you ask me.  First it was Google buying YouTube, then Microsoft buying portion of (80% i believe ) of CareerBuilder.com, Google buying DoubleClick, Yahoo buying Right Media, MySpace buying Photobucket, Microsoft buying aQuantive, and now talks of Yahoo buying Bebo.com and Google going after Feedburner - holy smokes. 

Like i was saying earlier, only player that remains to be bought out is Facebook.com - just came across an article on it TechCrunch.com.  I kinda agree and disagree with portions of the post on Techcrunch.  Yahoo is definitely out, so it comes down to Google and Microsoft.  Yes it does make sense for Google to buy it, but it ALSO makes sense for Microsoft to purchase it.  It will be MS’s entry into social networking, plus Microsoft already has existing banner advertisement deal with Facebook, why not take it to the next level and purchase the darn company.  I’m not quiet sure if Facebook going public makes lot of sense.

So let’s see who eats up Facebook.com and how far, G, Y, and M will go to purchase this hot property.

Tejas

Yes i know i have broken the first rule of blogging - which says you must keep your blog updated.  I have few excuses.  i was on vacation in december, i have been really busy, my school is keeping me busy, and last one i’m lazy

 The “WOW” Starts Now - That’s right baby, Windows Vista and Office 2007 launched today.  I have been using beta version of Vista and Office 2007 for the past couple of months and it rocks.  Vista is so much better looking, easy to use and its just fun.  It will surely make you say “WOW” at least one time - i gurantee it.  I have yet to install RTM (Final version) of Vista on my laptop, i’m still using RC1.

Office 2007 rocks too.  Once you get used to the “ribbons”, you’ll say the following sentence: “This is sooooo much easier to use and so much better”.  It seriously is.  There is a little learning curve, but once you get over that, you’ll love it.

So today, there were lot of events across the world - yes i said world to celebrate the launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007.  Events were being held in diff cafeterias around the main campus, so i decided to go to one of those cafeterias and join the celebration and watch BillG and Steve Ballmer live from NYC to offical launch the Vista and Office 07.  It is such a great feeling to be part of this company especially when Vista is launched.  It’s amazing.  You get so many benefits being part of this company, you get to try out software/products that are not out yet, i can’t discuss them :)  But its awesome, to be part of something awesome, if that makes any sense.

So go out and buy Vista and Office 2007.  See if you were nice to me i could have gotten you at discounted price, haha.  i’m kidding.  Oh also, it has been one year since i have been at Microsoft.  Year just flew by, it doesn’t even feel like a year, its crazy.

Let the “WOW” start…

Tejas

I hope you all had a great thanksgiving.  This was the first time i was away from my family, so it was kinda weird.  A colleague of mine was nice enough to invite us “orphans” to her place for thanksgiving meal with her family and pets.  Thank you Dawn

One thing i remember about my Thanksgiving 05 was that day before Thanksgiving Microsoft made me an offer.  A DAY before thanksgiving, nice timing.  I remember that day very well.  I was waiting for the call but have not heard anything for the past 3-4 days and didn’t expect to hear anything until after thanksgiving.  And at around 10 or 11 AM it happened.  Phone rang, recruiter introduced himself and this time he didn’t say “You did well, BUT”, rather he said, “We would like to make an offer to you.”  As soon as i heard that i remember saying this to myself:  “My life just changed.”  I remember him explaining all the benefits and stuff and i don’t remember anything he said, because i was shacking, couldn’t believe that Microsoft just made me an offer.  Last thing he said to me was “I bet you have something to be thankful for this thanksgiving” and i responded “You have no idea” :)  Ahhhh what a moment that was.  There are not that many moments in life that you can recall and point them out as being life changing moment.  So there you go, one year from day before thanksgiving, Microsoft made me an offer.

So what did i do celebrate this wonderful moment?  I bought XBOX 360 baby :)  Actually, i bought it because they had really good deal at the company store and i figured i will lot of time on my hand over the next 4 days doing nothing.  I am not much of a gamer, i think video games are just waste of time, i seriously do.  But i’m getting into it a little bit.  I have yet to try XBox Live, it seems pretty cool.

There you have it.  I hope you all had wonderful thanksgiving.

Cowboys are 7-4, who knew?  Tony Romo rocks

Tejas

Wow it has been looooooong time since I have written something on my blog.  I had few friends from out of town over the labor day weekend so i was little busy showing them around.  Seattle is beautiful in summer, it is the best time to visit.

So today is 5 year anniversary of 9/11.  I am sure lot of people who were in States or anywhere in the world for that matter 5 years ago, remember exactly where they were on 9/11/01.  I was in my last semester of college, about to go to my Finance class and then to my powerbuilder class.  A friend of mine called me and asked me to turn on the TV.  And i saw on the news how first plane hit the plane and my first thought was, wow did the pilot fall asleep?  I thought it was an accident.  And then i heard about the second plane and WOW.  This is not happening.  All the people.  How can you fly a plane into a building full of people?

On my way to 9:30am finance class, i heard someone talking on their cell phone about the plane crashing into a building.  A prof made a small announcement about the incident.  Went to my 11:00 am powerbuilder class and professor didn’t even mention it.  Went to library after lunch and everyone was around the TV and it was just unbelievable.  How can someone plan this and kill thousands of innocent people who had nothing to do with what’s happening in other parts of the world.  These are the normal folks, like you and me, family people, trying to make a living.  I was in front of TV all day long. 

Killing innocent people.  All in name of religion - how ridiculous is that?

Tejas

Live team released “Windows Live Writer” on August 13th.  So far reviews have been great.  This is what TechCrunch had to say:

“What does differentiate Live Writer is that they’ve released an API that allows developers to extend the capabilities of the software to publish additional content types.”

I have been dogfooding Windows Live Writer for the past month and I have enjoyed it.  And guess what i am writing this post on Windows Live Writer :)  It is easy to use, no funny HTML code and it is just plain straight forward.  I wish they had made FrontPage that way.  There are couple other things that I’m dogfooding too, so lot more “stuff” is coming down the pipe.  Of course you will hear it from me only when it is officially released.  Microsoft is releasing so many stuff now a days, its just difficult to keep track of it, in other words, there is so much innovation going on at Microsoft that it is kinda difficult to keep track of it all.  Also check out this cool site: “Windows Live Gallery“, i just discovered it.  Also, if you are using “Windows Live Mail” (formally known as Hotmail), it has gotten somewhat better then when it was first released.  There is more space now to read your messages.  I still believe Gmail is better email product for consumers then Hotmail (no offense Live Mail team).

Another great news is that AdCenter went live in UK and is doing well, thank you for asking.  Also, you gotta check out “Microsoft adCenter Labs”.  We have internal version of this site and i use it everyday.  So it is collection of tools developed by our brilliant team in China.

Mannn, this post is all about new products coming out of Microsoft.  Like i said, there are so much innovation going at Microsoft its kinda hard to keep track of stuff.  On the other note, my school has started today.  I am taking two classes this semester and assuming i do well in these two classes i will only have 3 more classes to go till i get my MBA.  So it should be hectic semester.

Also, to be more transparent, here is my MSN messenger sn (shahtejas00@hotmail.com) just in case someone wants to ping me with any comments or questions or suggestions, etc.  Not so ready to give you my home address just yet 

Until next time take care.

Tejas

This news came out week and I think it is bigggg deal.  Myspace has gained lot of popularity in such a short period of time.  Last time i read, 8% of traffic was MySpace traffic.  That is really powerful.  It was public knowledge that MySpace was talking to Google, MSN, and Yahoo regarding who will provide the search results and ad on MySpace.  And again Google has come at the top.  I think that is really good news for Google.  I was hoping MSN would win this deal, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.  It would have given MSN lot of visibility and would have increased its market share.

On the flip side, this also could mean Google advertisers will be getting lot of unwanted clicks since MySpace’s demographics are college going 18-24 year olds who are not that interested in purchasing any products.  No doubt this is a great deal for Google.

SES (Search Engine Strategies) conference was held last week in San Jose, California.  I will get the details of the conference first hand from the people who were there tomorrow.  One thing that puzzles me is that, Google has Google Dance, Yahoo has its own party and i think Ask also has its own party.  What i don’t understand is that how come MSN doesn’t throw its own party?  I just don’t get it.

Oh i was introduced to few new hires last week and again i found someone who has read my “Microsoft Interview” post.  So when i was introduced to him, he was like, i have read your blog entry when i was preparing for the interview at Microsoft, sooo funny.  Anyways, i hope it is helping people better prepare for the interview and give better understanding of the interview process.

Tejas