What's that snow leopard doing on Microsoft's Live Search?
There's a Snow Leopard on Live Search for sure. But could Live Search be inside Snow Leopard?
(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET Networks)Those of us with too much bandwidth and too little life (yours truly included) are wondering just why Microsoft chose to make a snow leopard the backdrop photo on Live Search on Thursday.
Even though Microsoft puts a new picture on the site each day, surely it hasn't exhausted all the images that are not references to competitor's products.
As TechFlash points out, the fact that Microsoft has the mascot for Apple's next operating system could be cluelessness on Microsoft's point. Or it could be hubris.
But another crazy thought crossed my mind. What if Microsoft has landed a deal to make Live Search the default in the next version of the Mac OS. For a long time now, Apple's Safari has had a Google search bar built-in. I don't know how much traffic that generates for the search giant, but it would seem to be at least as significant as some of the PC deals that Microsoft is paying good money to get.
Obvious animosities aside, mightn't a deal make sense. Microsoft has talked about needing to spend some money to boost Live Search share.
If it is the case, would Microsoft and/or Apple be crazy enough to tip their hand? It seems unlikely. But, even if that's not the reason that the Snow Leopard is there, would such a deal make sense?
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
Microsoft's cluelessness is the root cause of this little stuff up.
Now if the leopard was holding an apple in its mouth...
Maybe we can ditch the tinfoil and maybe, just maybe, consider the possibility that they put it up at random because it happened to be a pretty nature image?
There are two other reasons such a deal will never happen, and they're both named Steve:
1) Steve Jobs. He's the polar opposite of everything Microsoft stands for. He's never done anything solely for the money, and money can be the only motivation for polluting the Apple brand with a Microsoft logo. Besides, Apple is currently swimming in more cash than Microsoft and Scrooge McDuck combined.
2) Steve Ballmer. He trashes and ridicules Apple as insignificant every chance he gets (even more than Jobs trashes Microsoft). For him to do a deal with Apple would be admitting that Apple is a viable player, who can bring something to Microsoft's table. He'd rather gargle glass.
Are you from earth?
Note, Splashes said 'solely for the money'.... not wouldn't make a decision based on money. Unlike Ballmer who would probably do just about anything other than say nice things about Apple for some cash.
As for the cash of both companies... read it and weep!
http://venturebeat.com/2008/10/23/microsoft-closes-the-quarter-with-less-cash-than-apple/
As most people without Zune tattoos are well aware, Jobs' motivation is making great products; huge profits are the natural reward, and allow Apple to continue making great products. The fact that everyone including Microsoft is frantically trying to copy everything Apple should be your first clue that his focus is in the right place.
It's a well-known truism that focusing on quality will (eventually) bring profits, while focusing on profits will (eventually) destroy both quality and profits. What we're seeing now is just the first stages of Apple's ascent as reward for focusing on quality, and the first stages of Microsoft's descent as comeuppance for focusing on profits.
Dang, this is good popcorn.
If Jobs doesn't care about the money, then he cares about keeping control of what you (and I guess me, since I do have the iPhone) buy with your/my own money. I'm upset with myself that I caved and purchased the iPhone considering the amount of control Apple tries to exert on its users.
Don't get me wrong. In general, its a pretty decent product. It doesn't really do any one thing that other phones can't, it just does a whole lot of them relatively well. Other phones are more focused on making fewer features work a lot better. The Storm kicks the iPhone's ass but people are upset with some of its bugs. Yet people never complain about the bugs in the iPhone. My 3G takes probably 30 seconds, maybe more to boot up. It crashes on occasion. Does anybody remember what it was like to send a text message before the first update? Or how long it took just for contacts to load on the screen? If you give the Storm the same breaks you gave Apple, Apple would be fearful of the Storm. However, they're not that scared cause nobody is willing to give anybody else the same leeway they give Apple.
It's really hard to find any ethical top businessperson anymore. Unfortunately too many people treat brands like their tribes.
2. Office 2008 for Mac. Really all I have to say to prove that Microsoft has no problem striking a deal with Apple. If anyone would nix a deal it would without a doubt be Apple. Microsoft has an iPhone app!
What were you smoking last night?
So how do we work in the Illuminati and/or that society club that supposedly runs the planet? A bit of eschatology would spice it up a bit too.
I mean, I usually indulge in the guilty pleasure of listening to coast-to-coast AM at night as I fall asleep, but I don't, like, believe in it or anything... heh. :)
/P
If you play an OSX install disk backwards you get a video of Ballmer doing the developers dance. If you play a WIndows install disk backwards you get a video of a Jobs keynote address. :)
Dang, that was too easy. Next!
;-)
Do you really mean that POS known as live search !
LOL.
;-)
MS put a snow leo on the page and the whole tech sphere starts to get excited. It's over twitter, it's on cnet, blah blah blah. And then people go to live.com to check it for themselves. Traffic to live.com goes up! Maybe not so clueless after all!
That, my friend, is the very definition of delusion.
- by J.G. February 20, 2009 7:43 AM PST
- Y'all don't get it. Microsoft is using a picture of a snow leopard because Travis the chimp declined their offer.
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- by Dalkorian February 20, 2009 11:58 AM PST
- Ouch! Travis is the chimp that made news recently by going on a rampage, right? Is your joke in poor taste, or just close to it?
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- by Seaspray0 February 20, 2009 12:04 PM PST
- Travis is an apple monkey? Say it ain't so, Joe.
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