I finally got a chance to test out Microsoft's Live Mail Beta Program. I know the service has been in place for a while and several have already tried. In fact, I have had an invitation sitting in my inbox for over a month. But unfortunately I was never able to click on the join now button in the email. Whenever my mouse pointer hovered over it, it turned to a text cursor instead or a finger for clicking. Then it struck me. I opened up Internet Explorer and tried opening the same mail and as one can guess, it worked this time around. Well, maybe the fault is on firefox for not enabling Active X or something, but more likely I am willing to bet its due to Microsoft's assumption that everyone uses Internet Explorer. Oh yes, I do have all the Javascript options enabled as well.

Well, sadly for Microsoft, the assumption is not the case. While Internet Explorer is still the majority, Microsoft must surely notice that other browsers are holding a significant share of the browser market. Microsoft should also realize that they cannot associate their MSN service with the Microsoft line of software products unnecessarily. MSN is a portal targetting everyone on the internet and whose competitors include Yahoo and Google. Microsoft is a company that mainly makes software and some hardware. Microsoft's competitor is probably IBM, Sun and the Linux Vendors. MSN being owned by Microsoft does not mean that the lines between these two clearly distinct markets are blurred. Perhaps, Microsoft is trying to use a strategy of pulling customers into its products through its service. In this case, it would mean that they are trying to convince customers to use Internet Explorer and in turn use a Windows OS just so that they can use Windows Live Mail Beta. Well, that's not the way the market works. Customers would much rather just switch to another service like Yahoo or Google instead of continue to use MSN. I would like to quote Tim O' Reilly's article on Web 2.0 here. He mentioned that Google was setting the model on which Web 2.0 was being shaped. Their Ad Sense service is unique not only because it was the first to offer non intrusive text ads but because it focused on the entire market from the head to the tail. Most other online advertising plans till then focused purely on displaying ads at the major online services, leaving the advertising potential of less visited sites untapped.

Now, looking at MSN again from this perspective, its clear that they have decided to focus on the head (i.e. Windows and IE users) and left out the body and tail of the market, such as the users of other OS and browsers. This decision is obviously going to cost Microsoft heavily in the long run since the tail in this case is steadily increasing, especially in the browser market. I have looked at Internet Explorer 7 beta and I seriously doubt it can stand up to the competition of other browsers. Whatever innovative features have been introduced in IE 7 will soon be matched by Firefox and Opera. The only reason folks are still using Windows and Internet Explorer is because of their blind faith and loyalty towards Microsoft. Several people, including myself started learning to use computers on a Microsoft OS and hence have decided to keep using it. But, once customers open their eyes and see that more rock solid OS like Ubuntu are available for free, with almost similar software, there will be little reason to keep using Windows.

I previously posted an error I encountered on Windows XP 64 bit edition in a sarcastic tone as a joke. With regard to that, I belive that Microsoft should make more effort into releasing a bug free OS. At least make the errors meaningful, damnit! 3, 4 and start don't tell the users much about what caused the problem. And users can't be calling up technical support or post on forums everytime just to find out what caused this error. One reason Linux is preferred by developers is because it offers the option to fix the problem yourself by giving details on the error; if an error ever pops up. Several folks out there take a D.I.Y approach to fixing their problems and technology should be directed at helping people solve their problems, not hinder problem solving. While Linux is free, I don't that alone is pulling the market away from Microsoft. Many folks would be willing to pay for a Windows OS if it can at least be bug free and reliable.