Reno - 3:10 pm on Jul 26, 2008 (gmt 0)

Outstanding analysis httpwebwitch. Regarding whether or not using human behavior is superior to PageRank, I can only hope that it is nothing more than one factor (significant though it may be) out of a huge number of factors. IMO Google for too long placed too much emphasis on PR, and I'd not want MS to do the same with BR.

And why is that? Because human behavior may not -- in and of itself -- be the best gauge as to what is best. Two old quotes come to mind:

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." ~ H. L. Mencken

"People can easily be persuaded to accept the most inferior ideas or useless products." ~ Bartleby

We'll see how it plays out. Given how poorly MSN/LIVE has performed so far, they HAVE to do something, and this seems at first glance like a positive step in the right direction.

............................