sem4u - 7:53 am on Sep 13, 2009 (gmt 0)

I agree about open standards, but Microsoft still wants to lock down people to programs, hence the launch of IE7 soon.

They are probably working on other stuff too....

Bing will become some sort of platform that has 'feeds' from multiple sources that people are looking for.

They will hold:
a browser (IE7)
a search engine (Bing)
an online media player (Silverlight)
a handheld media player (Zune)
server farms (running Windows of course)
have access to online publications (including MSN)

....the list is endless as they will simply aggregate and/or buy new content providers to provide knowledge and products to the masses.

They also have access to a huge "war chest" of money built up from sales of Office and Windows products.

I have heard that they have $2bn in marketing budget just to launch Bing....and a search for "bing commercials" on Google or YouTube brings up some interesting ads...

It is going to be a very interesting time leading up to Christmas and into the New Year...