Microsoft joins the blogging world
Washington Microsoft Corp is becoming the latest company aiming to bring blogging to the masses with a free new tool that lets people easily set up Web journals
Spaces which debuts in test form Thursday is targeted at home users who want to share things like vacation pictures text journals or a list of favorite songs The service free to anyone with a Hotmail email or Messenger account is part of Microsofts effort to keep people in a Microsoftbranded universe for all their online communication needs
Spaces will be supported by banner ads that appear at the top of the Web logs...
Canton Daily Ledger: News Index
Google has offered discussion groups since when the company bought the Usenet archives but the previous features were more limited and more difficult to navigate
With the upgrade Googles discussion group more closely mirrors a service already offered by Yahoo Inc continuing the two rivals penchant for shadowing each others movements
Googles improvements are designed to make it easier for people to create discussions focused on common group interests such as shows and sports teams...
MSN Goes to The Blogs
The free hosted Spaces service is Microsofts first consumer foray into providing a blogging platform Spaces will enable members to maintain a blog and control it with some sophisticated features that are not typical of all blogging services
A permission system allows the blogger to set access levels public private or just Messenger Contacts to the blog which will also extend beyond just text to include pictures as well as music The service also allows bloggers to share their music playlists with visitors to their blog as well offering them the opportunity to purchase the music through s new Music service...
Microsoft Hopes Its Blogs Will Hunt (washingtonpost.com)
The Seattle PostIntelligencer reported that Microsofts new service isnt likely to appeal to hardcore bloggers and some analysts have mixed feelings about its prospects But executives say the approach should boost the interest in weblog publishing well beyond techies and enthusiasts to a much broader base of users This is for the masses said Blake Irving an corporate vice president He predicted that the new service will expand the blogging category at a pace that has not been seen before The Seattle Times also gave its 2 cents on the future success of the new service...
Google unveils improvements to discussion groups
Google Inc is unveiling a series of improvements to the discussions hosted by its popular Web site hoping the upgrade will spur more online banter and feed its marketleading search engine with more compelling content
The Mountain Viewbased company began tinkering with the changes in May but waited until Thursday to promote its new discussion group features with a link located above its heavily trafficked search engine
Google has offered discussion groups since when the company bought the Usenet archives but the previous features were more limited and more difficult to navigate...