Scripting News links to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer: article hinting at the new “MSN Blogbot.” What they missed was the story. Instead of breathlessly reporting that they had no news but had heard the name of a possible new product, they should have reported what they saw: Microsoft launches a FUD attack. The Seattle PI reports:
MSN exec Yusuf Mehdi showed it briefly on screen during a conference on the Redmond campus today, along with MSN Newsbot, a news search engine also in development… Mehdi was pressed for time and moved on quickly, so he didn’t share many details about Blogbot.
What nonsense. He wasn’t ‘pressed for time,’ he had delivered his FUD payload and moved on. In a Microsoft controlled PR event, he showed exactly what he wanted, no more, no less, and left everyone guessing. He showed Microsoft’s hand just enough to let all the players know they were moving into the space, and they’d better put up their ‘For Rent or Sale’ signs now if they didn’t want to get run over. I hate it when Microsoft wags the dog like this. The press should know better.