November 13th, 2009

Microsoft opens up Windows 7 to advertisers via downloadable themes

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 5:01 am

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Windows 7, Windows Live, Windows client, Zune

Tags: Brand, Theme, Microsoft Corp., Advertiser, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Branding, Operating Systems, Software, Marketing

The same way that it already allows advertisers to buy placement on various Microsoft sites and properties, Microsoft may allow them to extend their brands onto Windows 7.

The ads aren’t being foisted on Windows 7 users. Those who don’t want the branded themes don’t have to see them, as they’re opt in.

Microsoft announced on November 13 that it has begun test pilots with a handful of advertisers for ads on Windows 7. The two “theme experiences” they are offering are known as the “Windows Theme Experience” and the “Windows Personalization Gallery.” The trial is set to run through October 2010.

Advertisers participating in the pilot include Ducati, Infiniti, Porsche and Twentieth Century Fox, according to a Microsoft press release.

Via the Windows Theme Experience pilot, advertisers are going to be able to put their brand on Internet Explorer 8 add-ons; Windows 7 and Windows Vista gadgets; Windows 7 backgrounds and borders and Windows “audio elements.” Via the Windows Personalization Gallery pilot, advertisers will be able to push their brands “throughout the operation of their Windows 7-based PC including backgrounds, slide shows, borders and application audio elements.”

Users will have to download the branded themes and elements from Microsoft’s Windows Web site in order to add them to their PCs. Some of these branded themes and elements already are available for download, like the Ferrari theme, the Coca Cola “Happiness Factory” theme and the Porsche theme. They are available alongside of some of Microsoft’s own brand themes — such as the Gears of War theme, Bing screen shots theme and Zune characters theme.

“These new themes are intended for a brand’s most passionate fans and allow for a deeper engagement by letting consumers embed their favorite brand into their PC experience,” according to Microsoft.

I have to admit, I do like the Zune characters theme, but because I like the artwork in that theme pack, not because I want to tell the world that I’m a Zune fan. What about you? Are there branded themes you’d willing put on your PC — either ones already in the gallery or ones you’d like to see added to it?

November 9th, 2009

Windows Server 2008 R2 finally gets its day in the sun

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:30 am

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Management tools, PDC 2009, Security, System Center, Utility/cloud computing, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows server

Tags: Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Corp., WS2008R2, Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, E-mail Servers, Groupware

Microsoft officials highlighted the company’s wave of enterprise server products during the kick-off keynotes at the company’s TechEd Europe conference on November 9.

While the majority of the Microsoft’s marketing and advertising muscle has been behind Windows 7 for the past couple of months, this week, the focus is on the server side of house. Windows Server 2008 R2 (WS2008R2) — the server complement to Windows 7 has a lot of unsung features that could be of interest to IT pros, if only they knew about them, company officials said.

Microsoft officials have been touting the same handful of new WS2008R2 features as being key to IT pros, such as Hyper-V live migration; and better branch caching support and VPN-less networking (BranchCache and  Direct Access) when Windows 7 is used in conjunction with WS2008R2. But there are more than 100 features that are part of the WS2008R2 release. I asked Microsoft recently for a list of what it considered the top ten unsung features in the product. I compiled the list in the form of a slideshow.

Check out the slideshow: Ten unsung Windows Server 2008 R2 Features

As Microsoft officials have said for the past month, customers can begin to take delivery of Exchange Server 2010 starting today. (Microsoft released Exchange 2010 to manufacturing in October.) Microsoft also announced on November 9 that it has released to customers Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server. That on-premise offering will be complemented by a new, Microsoft-hosted Forefront service that will protect on-premise inboxes from spam and malware.

Exchange Server 2010 is a 64-bit-only release. The product includes new, integrated e-mail archive functionality; the ability to see text previews of voice mail; a new “Conversation View” feature; customizable call-routing menus; and a “MailTips” feature designed to help stamp out e-mail “faux pas.” It also includes a newly renamed version of Outlook Web Access (now known as Outlook Web App) that works with a variety of browsers

Microsoft originally was on tap to unveil Office Mobile 2010 at this week’s TechEd show in Berlin but took that topic off its agenda late last week. (I’m betting Office Mobile 2010 will get its day in the sun at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, which starts on November 16.)

Microsoft officials emphasized during the TechEd Europe keynotes and Q&A that customers shouldn’t wait to deploy Windows 7, WS2008R2, Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft’s other new wares. Microsoft has been going public with names of corporations that already have begun deploying these products to reinforce this message.

IT pros: Are there any Windows Server 2008 R2 and/or Exchange Server 2010 features you’re especially interested in?  Any features that didn’t make it into the final versions of these products that you’re hoping will be incorporated in the next round?

Update: Directions on Microsoft’s Rob Helm tweeted today that Exchange Online users won’t get Exchange Server 2010 functionality “for at least a couple of months.” I asked Microsoft for clarification and received a confirmation:

“Exchange Online is updated quarterly with new features and capabilities. With the launch of Exchange 2010 next week, we will begin the process of updating Exchange Online. We expect those to be available to Microsoft Online Services customers next year, and customers will determine when their users are upgraded to the new capabilities, without the traditional investment of time and energy required for an on-premises upgrade.”

November 4th, 2009

The long and winding road to MSN's reinvention as a social hub

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:54 am

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Google, MSN, Search, Silverlight (wpf/e), Yahoo

Tags: MSN, Microsoft Corp., Portals, Web Technology, Internet, Mary Jo Foley

It took a couple of years, but Microsoft is finally making good on some of the ideas officials had for making the company’s MSN home page more viable.

Back in 2007, former Senior Vice President of Microsoft’s Online Services Group Steve Berkowitz said Microsoft’s goal was to integrate more social-networking tools and pre-programmed content into the MSN home page. On November 4, Microsoft made public a preview of a new MSN home page that integrates Facebook and Twitter. (And Windows Live, too, the Softies note, usually as an afterthought.)

The revamped MSN home page — which execs say is the most sweeping face-lift the MSN.com site has had in close to a decade — looks less cluttered and easier to navigate. It’s also faster to load and has lost a lot of the “blue links” that dominate the current MSN.com page. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft’s Bing search technology is deeply integrated into the new design.

See Gallery: The past and future of MSN

The final version of the new MSN.com is slated to go live in early 2010.

“If there’s a hot new search term, we can put that on the page. We can surface Twitter and Facebook feeds to make real-time search available on MSN,” said Bob Visse, General Manager of MSN Product Management.

There’s also a big focus on making “local experiences” easier for MSN.com users to find and surface, Visse said. Microsoft will allow users to “interact with content in a programmable way.” Silverlight isn’t required, but if users have it installed on their PCs, it will “enhance” their video-viewing experience, Visse said. He said Microsoft will offer a list of Silverlight applications — such as gas-price indicator, for example — that users can get if they have Microsoft’s Flash competitor installed.

In 2008, Microsoft made MSN part of the combined Search, Portal and Advertising Group as part of one of the company’s regular reorgs. At that time, officials said Microsoft’s goal was to make MSN.com more of a socially networked platform. In an e-mail to employees, Senior Vice President of R&D for Online Services Satya Nadella said MSN was  Microsoft’s single largest source of ad revenue. He also promised that the next version of MSN would be “a software engine that delivers the most relevant and social online content experience.”

It’s easy to forget that shortly before Microsoft decided to focus on MSN as one of its major vehicles for consumer outreach, advertising and search that the company came close to getting out of the portal business. Berkowitz was one of the main execs who helped convince management that there was value in MSN and that Microsoft should keep the platform around.

These days, Microsoft is claiming that it has the largest worldwide audience of any of the consumer-focused portals on the Web. According to the company, 100 million people in the U.S. visit MSN every single month, and MSN added over 10 million new customers in the past year.

October 28th, 2009

Microsoft's Windows 7 challenge: Selling Live services (without being sued)

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:57 am

Categories: Advertising, Channel, Corporate strategy, OEMs, Resellers, System builders, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Live, Windows client

Tags: Antitrust, Microsoft Windows Live, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Corporate Law, Operating Systems, Software, Business Operations, Mary Jo Foley

I was wondering how aggressively — or not — Microsoft would market Windows Live services once it began selling Windows 7.

The answer seems to be somewhat aggressively. But is that tepid enough to keep the Softies out of antitrust hot water?

For more than a year now, Microsoft has been pulling certain features out of Windows and making them available as free “rich” services. The suite of these services is known as Windows Live Essentials (WLE) and includes Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Live Writer, Messenger and Mail.

Although Microsoft officials take care to avoid saying that removing features and offering them separately might be motivated in any way by the threat of antitrust suits, I’d think this would be one (big) definite upside for the WLE strategy/approach. The downside (for Microsoft) around this decoupling is that the company needs to find ways to get users to understand that these functions are available for free download, or, in some cases, preloaded by PC makers on new machines.

I asked Microsoft officials how they intended to let consumers know about the existence of Windows Live Essentials (WLE), a bundle of several Windows Live services meant to complement Windows 7, and received via e-mail this list of “ways we are educating consumers about the offering”:

• The most recent version of Windows Live Essentials (WLE) can be downloaded from download.live.com
• Most large OEMS will ship WLE on Windows 7 PCs.  For example, we have already announced that Dell will ship WLE on its machines, and we expect to announce other specific partners in the coming months.
• Windows.com and Microsoft.com both include information on WLE and where to go to download it
• Windows 7 users can find a link to download (download.live.com) WLE within the Control Panel.  An easy way to find this link is who search to type Windows Live Essentials into the Start Menu search bar
• We offer WLE as an Optional Update through the Microsoft Update program
• Customers who are enrolled in Windows Update will receive automatic upgrades to any WLE applications they have installed on their PC
• WLE is highlighted in the Getting Started experience within Windows for new PC purchasers

One way Microsoft also is getting the word out, which company officials didn’t mention, is by featuring WLE on new “Signature” PCs that are sold through Microsoft’s own Store.

As Todd Bishop over at TechFlash noted recently, the Windows 7 PCs that Microsoft is highlighting on the Microsoft online store come with a number of Microsoft software and service offerings — including WLE — preloaded. (The Signature PCs also include Microsoft Security Essentials, Silverlight, Bing 3D Maps, Zune 4.0, plus a few select third-party wares, like Adobe Flash and Reader.) Signature PCs include systems from Sony, HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo and other vendors.

I’m surprised we haven’t seen Microsoft push WLE more than through some rather vague mentions by Microsoft spokesperson of the year, the now-five-year-old Kylie. But maybe the specter of looming antitrust busters is keeping the Softies from going all-out with a splashy WLE campaign.

Do you think any of the ways Microsoft is promoting WLE — including the new Signature PCs –might leave open loopholes for Microsoft’s competitors to run screaming to the authorities?

October 22nd, 2009

Was Windows 7 totally your idea?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:21 am

Categories: Advertising, Apple, Corporate strategy, Vista, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags: Advertisement, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Crispin, Porter + Bogusky — the ad agency that is behind a variety of Microsoft’s recent ad campaigns (everything from the confounding Gates/Seinfeld skits, to the  Laptop Hunters, to the newest Kylie happy talk series) — is launching yet another group of ads starting this week.

The new campaign, which kicks off  Thursday in six countries, is “I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea.” The thought behind the message is that Windows 7 was created out of user feedback and complaints: They wanted an operating system that was faster, less complicated, smaller, more secure. And Windows 7 is the result.

Blogger Long Zheng noted that one of Microsoft employees featured in the video clip from the campaign is Chaitanya Sareen, responsible for developing the new Windows 7 taskbar.

The new campaign will include TV, print ads, banner ads, posters/billboards and branded-entertainment elements, according to The New York times. I saw one of the posters on a bus-stop kiosk here in New York yesterday and I have to admit it left me scratching my head, wondering who the guy was in the picture who was claiming Windows 7 was his idea…

The new campaign provides a new way for Microsoft to put Vista behind it, without actually disparaging Vista by name. But it’s undeniable that   Vista is the operating system  about which most of these user complaints is targeted.

What do you think of the “totally my idea” campaign?  And what do you expect Apple’s reaction to the new ads to be?

October 19th, 2009

Ad agencies to DOJ: We like the Microsoft-Yahoo deal

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 12:19 pm

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Google, Legal, Search, Yahoo

Tags: Advertisement, Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corp., U.S. Department Of Justice, Mary Jo Foley

Four big ad agencies, under the auspices of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, has issued a public letter to the U.S. department of Justice supporting the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership, which the pair proposed in July.

The letter, dated October 19, is short and to the point. Here’s the full text:

“Advertising is the fuel that powers the Internet. Most websites depend on online advertising to survive – it’s what allows them to offer consumers free content and services.

“A very important form of online advertising is search advertising – the sponsored links that appear when a search engine answers a query. A healthy, competitive market for search and search advertising is crucial to the Internet’s future.

“We believe that Yahoo! and Microsoft’s proposal to combine their technologies and search platforms is good for advertisers, marketing services agencies, website publishers and consumers.

“These benefits are too important to wait for. As leading members of the advertising and marketing services industry, we urge the Department of Justice to bring its antitrust review to a speedy conclusion. This proposal enhances competition, and should be allowed to take effect as soon as possible”

The Advertising Association’s President and CEO Nancy Hill; Maurice Levy, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe; Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP; Michael I. Roth, Chairman and CEO, Interpubic Group of Companies; and John Wren, President and CEO, Omnicom Group all signed the note. (Microsoft recently sold its Razorfish ad subsidiary to Publicis Groupe for $530 million.)

Yahoo officials issued a statement on October 19, noting: “Yahoo welcomes the broad support this deal has received, and remains hopeful that the closing of this transaction can occur in early 2010…. In light of the fact that we’re in our quiet period ahead of earnings tomorrow, we’re not able to comment further.”

Microsoft and Yahoo announced their intention to enter into a complex partnership, via which Microsoft’s Bing engine would power a number of Yahoo’s online properties and Yahoo sales reps would sell ads for Microsoft properties. Some Yahoo employees (400 or so) are due to become Microsoft employees as part of the transaction.

The pair is hoping that by pooling their search assets they’ll creat a more formidable No. 2 online search/advertising alternative to Google. The deal is subject to regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and possibly abroad.

October 6th, 2009

Microsoft kicks off its Windows uber-branding campaign

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 6:06 am

Categories: Advertising, Apple, Azure, Channel, Corporate strategy, Utility/cloud computing, Windows CE, Windows Live, Windows Mobile, Windows client, Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune

Tags: Phone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Microsoft Zune, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Mobile Operating Systems, Mobile Applications, Handhelds

October 6 is the retail launch of Windows Mobile 6.5-based phones from a variety of handset makers and carriers. But it’s actually something bigger: It’s the kick-off of Microsoft’s plan to convince users that Windows is (or, at least, should be) everywhere they are.

I’m not going to repeat what lots of other blogs and sites already have, in terms of a feature-by-feature review of Windows Mobile 6.5. (Gizmodo’s review has screen shots and details and ends by noting that the Zune HD team has completely one-upped the Windows Mobile team — kind of ironic, given the Zune software team is now part of MediaRoom/Media Center and the Zune Hardware folks are part of Windows Mobile.)

Today is the day when Microsoft and its phone partners start using officially the “Windows Phone” branding for Windows Mobile phones. Windows Mobile is still the name that will be used for the operating system powering phones; Windows Phones is the uber-brand for all phones running Windows Mobile, regardless of the carrier.

That change may seem like semantics, but it’s not. It’s key to the three-screens-and-a-cloud mantra that Microsoft officials are repeating these days. The idea is you have Windows on your PC, Windows on your phone, Windows on your TV and Windows in the cloud and because it’s one big Windows world, everything works seamlessly.

The reality is not quite like the ads. The operating systems powering these different Windows platforms aren’t all the same. Windows Mobile — for now, at least — is still based on the Windows Embedded CE core. CEO Steve Ballmer lamented to TechCrunch recently:

“We have one and a half operating systems, Windows and Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile is kind of a half because it’s not entirely the same as Windows. And everyday, I say I’d love to get those two things to share more.”

But until Microsoft can figure out how to do that, the company will have to rely on user-interface similarities and common services to further the company’s “One Windows’ message.

Example: Notice the way that Windows Media Center, the Zune HD and Windows Mobile 6.5 all use the same kind of vertical text menus as their primary interface. (However, because OEMs can and do layer their own interfaces over Windows and Windows Mobile, this UI consistency, in cases where it does exist, often gets buried.)

There will be more examples going forward, as Microsoft makes its Zune Video Marketplace, Zune music-subscription service and other premium services common across multiple Windows platforms. But until then, Microsoft’s “Life Without Walls” message still has some pretty solid walls in its path.

Do you think Microsoft will ever get to the point where Windows is the one and only OS that the company is supporting across platforms? Does it actually matter whether the Softies can do so?

October 1st, 2009

Microsoft shuffles its advertising engineering deck

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 9:07 am

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Google, MSN, Search, Yahoo

Tags: Advertisement, Microsoft Corp., Alexander Gounares, Alex, Nadella, Research & Development, Business Operations, Mary Jo Foley

Alexander Gounares, Corporate Vice President of Advertising Research and Development for Microsoft, is no longer in charge of engineering for Microsoft’s digital advertising products.

In response to my query, a Microsoft spokesperson sent on October 1 a confirmation and explanation of what Gounares will be doing:

“Alex Gounares is transitioning to a new role becoming the CTO for the Online Services Division, reporting to Satya Nadella. Alex is looking forward to taking some well-earned parental leave, before returning to play a pivotal role by driving cross-cutting strategy and future-thinking for the entire division.”

I’ve asked how long Gounares will be gone and who will be taking his place. No word back yet on either of those questions.

Update: Rajat Taneja will become the CVP of Program Management for Ad Platform. The spokesperson added: “Rajat’s charter will include partnering very closely with Scott Howe and the business team to ensure tight connection between our business strategy and technology roadmap and delivery.” Meanwhile, Don Gagne will be promoted to CVP of Development for Ad Platform. “Prior to OSD R&D in the search team a few months ago, Don led Office engineering,” the spokesperson added.

Gounares is taking a four-week leave, the spokesperson also said.

Gounares’ next boss will be Nadella, who  is the Senior Vice President for Research and Development with Mcirosoft’s Online Services Division. Nadella leads engineering for Bing, MSN and Microsoft’s advertising platforms.

Gounares has been with Microsoft since 1993, and spent three years during his career as the technology assistant to Chairman Bill Gates. Prior to heading ad research and development, he was Corporate Vice President for Corporate Strategy. He also, at one point, was responsible for leading the creation of the original Microsoft Tablet PC platform. This past summer, he was one of 40-plus individual appointed to head up the review of ThinkWeek papers inside Microsoft

Products like Microsoft adCenter are central to Microsoft’s push to try to attract advertisers who want to run ads across Microsoft’s Bing search, video, gaming and mobile platforms.

September 15th, 2009

Microsoft exec: 'When Windows is executing well, Microsoft is in good shape'

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 10:08 am

Categories: Advertising, Apple, Azure, Channel, Corporate strategy, Google, OEMs, Resellers, System builders, Utility/cloud computing, Virtualization, Vista, Windows 7, Windows client

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Microsoft Windows 7, Operating Systems, Software, Hardware, Mary Jo Foley

So much for the repeated attempts by Microsoft brass to try to keep in check investors’ expectations around Windows 7’s impact on the market.

On September 15, Charles Songhurst, a Microsoft General Manager of Corporate Strategy, couldn’t have done more to tout the potential impact of Microsoft’s new operating system. Songhurst was bullish not just on Microsoft’s prospects, but on those of the larger PC industry’s, too, in spite of the Microsoft brass’ continued bearishness about the state of the global economy.

Songhurst — who works closely with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell on charting Microsoft’s mergers, acquisitions and strategic investments — spoke at the Jefferies Annual Technology Confernce on September 15. While he totally sidestepped a number of analyst questions, including ones on Office 2010 and Microsoft’s long-range view on server virtualization, he responded with unusual candor (for a Microsoft exec) to many others.

Among Songhurst’s sound bites I found interesting:

* “When Windows is executing well, Microsoft is in good shape,” Songhurst said. He couldn’t have been more bullish about Windows 7’s prospects in his remarks. He called 7 a “compellingly good product” that has led to “renewed belief in innovation in the Windows franchise.” Songhurst added that people tend to underestimate the impacts, both good and bad, from a product release and characterized Vista as a “less good” Windows release.

* Microsoft is getting, on average, $50 per copy for Windows from OEMs. (As my News.com colleague Ina Fried noted, that’s not a number Microsoft typically shares.) Songhurst didn’t detail how much less netbook makers are paying the Softies per copy (that figure is rumored to be around $15 per copy of XP). But he did say that the average between the pricier SKUs and the lowest end netbook SKUs comes out to about $50. (CFO Liddell recently used $60 as the average price per copy for Windows when explaining why he wasn’t worried about the continued impact of netbooks on Microsoft Windows revenues.) Microsoft has found users willing to buy multiple PCs (in the developed world) and first-time PCs in the form of netbooks in the developing one. PC usage is up, too because “being at home on the PC is one of the cheapest activities you can do,” he said.

* Microsoft still has yet to push Bing internationally, and could get a search-share boost from doing so, Songhurst said. On the topic of search, he noted that “search isn’t as homogeneous” as Microsoft originally thought. Users have different search preferences, he said, and there’s a “good chance we could carve out a 10 percent to 20 percent niche just based on differentiation” in terms of how results are displayed and how search is handled.

* Microsoft is planning to use Bing to help Silverlight gain market share. No big surprse to anyone who followed Microsoft’s Visual Search unveiling yesterday, but it the new Visual Search requires installation of Silverlight to work. Songhurst said this kind of dependency creates a “consumer-pull sort of approach” for Silverlight.

* Microsoft is targeting a different segment of the hosted-services market than any of its competitors, Songhurst told a conference participant asking about Azure. I’m sure Microsoft’s competitors wouldn’t agree with Songhurst’s contention that Oracle, IBM and Google don’t have offerings that compete with Azure. (All do.) And Songhurst claimed “Amazon is more focused on the small-business and consumer segment” of the hosted services market than Microsoft — another claim I’m not sure I’d call 100 percent accurate….

September 11th, 2009

DOJ requests more info on Microsoft-Yahoo search deal

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:36 am

Categories: Advertising, Corporate strategy, Legal, Search, Yahoo

Tags: Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corp., U.S. Department Of Justice, Business Structures, Pricing, Finance, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

The U.S. Department of Justice is expanding its review of the pending Microsoft-Yahoo search partnership the pair unveiled this summer.

The DOJ has requested more information from both companies, according to various reports. Microsoft isn’t commenting on the specifics of what the DOJ is requesting. But a Bloomberg story, citing “a person familiar with the matter,” said the pair are likely to be asked about their search-engine investments, ad pricing and product plans.

(I’ve asked Microsoft officials whether there are any more specifics on the DOJ investigation to share but have yet to hear back.)

Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to a complex partnership in July, via which Microsoft would provide much (but not all) of the search technology to Yahoo for use within its various online properties and Yahoo would sell the Microsoft-Yahoo search and advertising platform to advertisers. The goal of the proposed partnership is to create a more formidable No. 2 player in the search market by combining the development and sales forces of the current No. 2 (Yahoo) and distant No. 3 (Microsoft).

In July, according to comScore, Bing had 8.9 percent share of the U.S. search market and Yahoo had 19.3 percent. Google had 64.7 percent.

Microsoft is expected to be launching an update to its Bing search engine, known tentatively as “Bing 2.0″ before the end of this month — and possibly as early as next week