Microsoft gives up YouTube chase

SAN FRANCISCO--In the coming months, Microsoft plans to significantly scale back Soapbox, the video site it once hoped might take on YouTube in the user-generated content arena.

In an interview on Tuesday, Microsoft Vice President Erik Jorgensen said Soapbox is one of the areas that Microsoft is pulling back on in the wake of a tough economic environment. His unit also recently pulled the plug on Microsoft Money, the company's personal finance software product.

Soapbox launched in 2006--the same year Google announced its deal to buy YouTube--but never emerged as a significant threat to the market leader. (See video, left, for a review from Soapbox's early days.)

In 2007, Microsoft stopped allowing new users to access the site while it added filtering technology aimed at reducing the amount of copyright content posted on its site. It returned a few months later, but has been largely an afterthought in the video market, except as a home for Microsoft's own videos.

Microsoft hopes to transform Soapbox, originally code-named Warhol, from an also-ran in the user-generated content space into a forum where bloggers and citizen journalists can post videos relevant to areas in which MSN focuses, categories like entertainment, lifestyle, and finance.

Jorgensen

"We definitely look at it and say we want Soapbox to stand for something and add to our overall video strategy," he said, noting that being a broad user-generated video player was too expensive in light of the current economy.

While Microsoft will focus on such content, it's still unclear whether it will continue to allow users to freely upload their videos or if it will require some sort of editorial selection of the movies before they make it onto the site.

"We haven't decided whether you just continue to support it or whether it is too expensive and out of our focus to do," he said.

[The_happy_switcher]

If Microsoft ran a funeral parlor no one would die.

[sanenazok]

Just like nobody uses its OS or its productivity suite.

[MaLvaDo39]

Sanenazok, an informed purchaser does not use Windows.
And it being forced on you because of IT, well those dinosaurs will have to retire someday.

[sanenazok]

@MaLvaDo39 - yeah because no young person uses Windows and no up and coming people use MS Office. You gotta be realistic about the future and MS will be a part of it. You're setting yourself up for a disappointment otherwise. Don't think of the world in black and white terms. MS isn't all good or all evil. Sure its business practices aren't perfect but it's no Standard Oil or AT&T. When it comes to things that don't matter (like I dunno the OS on your computer) don't ever think in absolutes like "an informed purchaser..." since those statements are not going to be true and you get worked up over nothing. Just think, 10-20 years ago we would be having arguments over whether Amiga is better than something equally ancient. In retrospect these things totally don't matter.

[i2oi3]

LOL if microsoft had a funeral parlor..their day is coming, just you wait and see - 20 years from now we'll be saying, man if only I had bought MSFT!

~Rob
http://www.mytextsecret.com

[Notjub]

Microsoft pretty much relies on their monopoly established businesses to survive. None of their recent products have dominated like Windows\Office\IE, which were rooted back when they were allowed by government to stifle the competition. Now that they actually are forced to innovate, they almost always end up playing second fiddle to someone else.

[SeizeCTRL]

I like to think I am pretty savvy with the internet and all the cool sites, but I've never even heard of soapbox. Perhaps they should do some commercials similar to the bing.com ones to make people aware.

[The_happy_switcher]

"I've never even heard of soapbox" That makes at least two of us

[Hunnter2k3]

And a third.
I haven't heard of this at all.

I knew that Microsoft had A competing video service, but i always thought it was that MSN video thing.

[ppgreat]

Microsoft gives up [fill in the blank] chase.

[kojacked]

[the trying to win over the ignorant]

[Geoff_W]

[caring about Net trolls]

[Mr. Dee]

I can conclude that 2009 is not a good year for many of Microsoft's products and services. I would assume with Microsoft building Windows Azure datacenters that services like Soapbox would be easily be managed and monetized. But, you can't beat YouTube anyway, its faster, popular and just plain fun! I have even uploaded 3 minute videos to YouTube on GPRS - on Soapbox, that's impossible.

Hearing news like this makes me really scared about other services in the Windows Live lineup.

[sanjayb]

Wow, Mr Dee, a non fanboy comment. Good job!

I think this could be a good thing for Microsoft. I always thought that MS spread themselves too thin trying to be everything to everyone. This killing of Soapbox and the recent dropping of MS Money might help Microsoft focus on the their more important lines of business that have been proven successful for them (i.e: Windows, Office, etc, etc). Also the home video market might be a good thing to drop. Google is struggling to figure out to make money off Youtube.

[flickrz]

@sanjayb: It is naive to think that if you comment is pro-microsoft and against apple, you are a msft fanboy. Only apple fanboys think/talk like that.

[martin_c_e]

sanjayb:
I couldn't agree more about MS giving up. They just don't seem to know what business they are in. To me, it is obvious that they never used the competitor's stuff and made their version of it difficult to use. MSN finally just recently put the comments with the artilcles. Their partners such as MSN-TV are exceedingly stuck in the analog days which are gone.

[Mr. Dee]

I am not a MS-Fan boy, I just point out crap from Linux and Mac users when its spewed. Anyway, as you note, YouTube, just like Twitter are not money making business. In fact like most social networking tools these days anyway. Microsoft at least can make money off the tools that utilize YouTube. For instance users of Windows 7 will definitely download Windows Live Essentials with Live MovieMaker 1.0. So, more people using their software = win-win.

[sanjayb]

@flickrz

Thanks for not adding anything useful to the topic being discussed.

[kojacked]

@flickrz: +1

Sometimes the truth hurts.

[lvcsslacker]

If there would have been some advertising, it may have done something...

[retroboy77]

As far as Microsoft's losing battles go, I'm glad they're giving up here. I wish they'd give up on MSN spaces, or Live Spaces. And I really want them to keep on trying with Bing.

[beat_elite]

totally agree with your comment since live spaces is pretty much junk that nobody uses or even know exists and Bing has potential. However, I think it's kind of a shame that they're giving up on msn video since it is the only video site that could get past the school blocking filters. Other than getting past the school filters though, I never really found it that interesting and it doesn't really matter since i'll be graduating in a year.

[Mr. Dee]

If they give up on Live Spaces, they better have a way for me to export my 5 years of post on the service to an alternative platform such as WordPress.

[Hunnter2k3]

I just wish they went back to how Spaces was before all this Live crap came along.
"Live" killed MSN spaces for me, and their constant attempts to buckle the site for everyone not using IE browsers.

I used to love Spaces too. And loads of my friends used it.
But then they started messing around with everything and everyone just left it.

[Uilleam]

I'm saddened to hear this, though not surprised. The video quality of Soapbox's player at it's time of launch was far superior to YouTube's, and other sites. But Microsoft, as it does when it bites off more than it can chew, refused to devote any resources to its development.

With it gone, there aren't any real competitors to the monopolistic juggernaut of online video hosting. Sure there are Break, Vimeo, MetaCafe, and Blip to name a few, but who actually knows these sites exist, anymore than they knew Soapbox existed.

A lot of the commenters I see on CNET are obviously too young to understand the negative repercussions, and damage, that can come to an industry that has been monopolized. Competition is good. Google did absolutely nothing with YouTube until it perceived Hulu to be a threat. Hopefully, Hulu will be a threat, and put Google on notice. In it's current design, YouTube is a mess, hard to navigate, and overrun with trivial tripe. Content providers are constantly berating the technology and hoping for something better, but like iTunes is for Old Media, it's the default goto place on the web.

As for Live Spaces, it has potential, as part of MSFT's broader Windows Live plan, they just need to develop it more and open it up. Sadly, I think this is a long way off. Few people realize just how simple, easy, and fast Windows Live has become. MSFT has great products for the massive population of average computer users, they just need to advertise their products. That's their problem. They need to say 'the hell with trying to win over fanboys', it'll never happen, and concentrate on the untapped masses. Then they'll be a real threat to Google.

[AvatarXone]

Glad you actually remember how great was the soapbox alpha and beta.

i would like a revision of it as a Windows Live property. maybe for wave 4 (late this year) or Wave 5 (late 2010) made in SL3 and that could integrate with the live suite and more importantly with Live Video Messages..

[quikboy2]

Glad to see there's someone else that shares my view with the state of the web.

Soapbox was great before it was released in it's final version. No ads (well it was inevitable), no stupid autoplay for MSN content videos, slick interface, etc.

Unfortunately, right after beta, a lot of things changed. There were ridiculous video ads (a huge waste of time, often 30 seconds to watch something trivial), MSN content autoplays after 9 seconds a video finishes (did I ask for an MSN Video??), and nothing to really differentiate it from YouTube and other sites except the fact it has a somewhat slick interface.

I would have thought by now that MS would put some nice Silverlight effects, video thumbnail previews (like Bing), HD support, and other nicer stuff. Nope, MS just really didn't stick behind it, which is the reason why more than a couple of MS properties have died in the past.

I agree with your assessment on YouTube. Like more than a year or two after its launch, I didn't notice really much anything new except some obvious Google ads. It hasn't been until lately that YouTube has finally added some new features. Unfortunately, they're still the king of video content, and I just wish some indepdent video-sharing sites would collaborate and try to make a super-awesome video sites that could outdo YouTube, maybe even have Microsoft's backing. Nope, unfortunately not yet.

[Notjub]

Uh, guys...Google couldn't do anything with Youtube unless they actually OWNED Youtube. And Hulu existed WAY before Google bought YT. So saying "Google did absolutely nothing with YouTube until it perceived Hulu to be a threat" is a misleading statement; at the time YT didn't even make money, so Google had to figure out how to change it into a profitable business. Thus the changes, not because of some threat by Hulu, because they weren't even competition back then. Only recently did Google decide to turn a profit by trying the Hulu model.

[terminalblue]

soapwhat? i normally keep track of this stuff but i have never heard of this.

[AvatarXone]

The original sopabox was better than youtube and demanded less PC resources. for that matter this is still true for msn video.

But the most glaring issues with Soapbox is that:

1.- it never actually launched in is original form (that was very good)
2.-the integration it had with Zune and Windows Live from the early day was also cut and dumbed down
3.-it was in the wrong brand as it belonged more as a Windows Live Wave 1 service.

So no wonder most have never heard of it as wat was the original Soapbox in terms of domain, UI and UX was simply ditched before launch and the jammed into MSN Video in a senseless way.

[anonymuos]

Good riddance. It played a mandatory ad before any video, AUTOPLAYED all videos embedded on MSN News pages, and the player had no concept of caching after buffering.

[no-bs-just-the-facts]

Yes, it is hard not to notice so many MS failures lately. Allow me to point out a larger issue most of us are unaware of...MS products as a whole are outdated and a failure. We are so MS centric in the US, UK, and Ausie as well, where the rest of the world has broken out of the MS mold and is innovating circles around us. Microsoft products = legacy products.

[randy620]

Maybe you should consider changing your mane to got-my-info-on-slashdot

[magicmaster]

I have never heard of Microsoft's Soapbox video content hosting site at all.
If I have never heard of it, how would I evaluate it?

[a_flores]

Likewise, this the first time I hear there is such a service called, what? Soapbox?

[Raabscuttle]

Microsoft had a video hosting site?

[NWLB]

Microsoft had a video service?

[Geoff_W]

At least Microsoft is being smart about downsizing. The portal was hard to find through MSN, hell it was hard to find through any service. There's no money in UGC and for Microsoft there weren't any views in it either.

[jeepmonster01]

never heard of soapbox either, they should have named it something else. being a guy i would have thought it was talking about soap-operas lol; should have spent some money on marketing.

[gsosbee]

MSN.COM prevents me from documenting fbi/cia crimes in the financial markets; then, MSN.COM bans me permanently:

http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/hatephonecallsan.html
----------------------------------
the banned report:


Ultimately The Markets Must Collapse!

Illegal funding for fbi/cia global terror campaign:
What needs to be funded?
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part4-worldinabo.html

How are the fbi/cia crimes funded?

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0401/S00151.htm

http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2009/03/35293.php
or
http://rochester.indymedia.org/newswire/display/22314/index.php

http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/forum/topics/funding-sources-for-usas-intel

QUESTIONS! geral sosbee [phone]