Microsoft is getting desperate

[RotationSlimWang]

It looks like they caught on, when i try to use the macro it just says that the quit feature is locked.

There's a new version out, numero 8. Sucks that they took down the Vistas, I only got one copy, got a Zune last night, now I'm going on the long hard slog to a 360.

[Tylerdurden31]

version 8 is awesome...no mouse needed

[J~$$$]

Has anyone received any of the products yet? I may try this if its a guaranteed thing.

[RotationSlimWang]

Nothing seems to be shipping until the first week of September.

[PotVsKtl]

In case you porridge-eating midgets hadn't figured it out yet, you're not getting your shit. Chances are Microsoft knew about this in hours and chose to just monitor accounts rather than change the games themselves. Servers keep these mysterious files called logs where it would be thumb-suckingly easy to determine that you were playing Plinko or whatever the fuck at 137 chips-per-minute.

[full on idle]

ORLY Dr. Expert? Too bad Brad's already got delivery tracking information for the first of his Zunes.

[Tylerdurden31]

In case you porridge-eating midgets hadn't figured it out yet, you're not getting your shit. Chances are Microsoft knew about this in hours and chose to just monitor accounts rather than change the games themselves. Servers keep these mysterious files called logs where it would be thumb-suckingly easy to determine that you were playing Plinko or whatever the fuck at 137 chips-per-minute.

well...how bout considering you really dont have to do much of anything to get this done, why not do it? What's Microsoft gonna do? Come to my house and have a corporate takeover? If I get my shit, awesome...if I don't...oh fucking well.

[Omar1]

Microsoft Search Share Rises With Prizes

MSN and Microsoft Live's U.S. search query volume showed a 67% increase from May to June, according to a new report.

By Thomas Claburn
InformationWeek
July 9, 2007 07:58 PM

Microsoft's search efforts may finally have found some users.

MSN and Microsoft Live's U.S. search query volume jumped from 8.4% in May to 13.2% in June, a 67% increase, according to Internet metrics company Compete, Inc.

The key to Microsoft's success? Prizes.

"A good portion of the additional Live searches are coming from the Live Search Club, where you can apparently play games for points which you can redeem for fine Microsoft products," said Steve Willis, a Compete analyst, in a blog post Monday. "All of the games involve using Live's search engine -- to get the points, you have to search with Live."

Blingo.com, powered by Google, has been using prizes to woo searchers since 2004.

Willis said that Club.live.com wasn't generating noticeable traffic in April. In May, Compete tracked some 330,000 unique visitors at that site. In June, that number had risen to 3 million unique visitors.

"If Microsoft can actually leverage this traffic to Club.live into actual search users and string together a few more months like this, they could really threaten Google's top spot," said Willis.

A person posting under the name Cliff Parker on the Compete blog questioned the firm's data. "[S]earch market shares usually move by tenths of percentage points per month," Parker said. "A move this big in one month is unprecedented. Are you sure your data are correct?"

Willis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Compete boasts an active monthly sample of over 2 million users, compared to the 120,000 users sampled by Internet analyst comScore Media Metrix 2.0.

"Compete applies a rigorous normalization methodology, leveraging scientific multidimensional scaling (by age, income, gender and geography) to ensure metrics are representative of the U.S. Internet population," the company states on its Web site. "Compete members are recruited through multiple sources, including ISPs, the Compete Toolbar and additional opt-in panels to ensure a diverse distribution of user types and to facilitate de-biasing across the data sources."

As for other search engines, Amazon's Alexa.com shows a noticeable increase in traffic at Club.live and a 52% increase in page views over the past three months.

Google saw its search query volume drop from 67% in May to 62.7% in June, a 6.5% decline.

Yahoo's search query share stood at 19.6% in June, down from 19.7% in May and from 26.7% in June 2006.

Ask.com's search query share declined to 3.3% in June, down 3.5% in May and 4.1% from June 2006.

Internet metrics company comScore published its take on U.S. search market share numbers for May: Google (50.7%), Yahoo sites (26.4%), Microsoft sites (10.3%), and Ask (5%).

Your mileage may vary.

[PotVsKtl]

ORLY Dr. Expert? Too bad Brad's already got delivery tracking information for the first of his Zunes.

Because he probably jumped on it right away? I'm talking about people still doing this days after it was obvious they knew it was happening.

[full on idle]

Oh, okay. Sorry if I was snippy. Sorry.

[PotVsKtl]

Go fuck yourself.

[full on idle]

sigh.

[PotVsKtl]

Just joshing! Hey Amy, go fuck yourself.

[full on idle]

Is it my fault that Daddy leaves and Mommy cries?

[psychic friend]

edit: clownery

[full on idle]

you tell em Mo'.

[Good Days Last]

I'm still winning.

And I'm going to get my stuff.

[Good Days Last]

Guess who is about to get a Zune...

[PotVsKtl]

Not your dumb ass?

[Good Days Last]

Yes. Me.

Shut up Pot.

I'm going to type of a thread saying: "Hey Pot. I proved you wrong, gay wad" after I get my Zune and I'm going to post pictures of me and it and us having a great time all because I smart enough to cheat the system.

[Hannahrain]

This is the most personality I've ever seen you have.


I'm a bit taken aback.

[Good Days Last]

I'm kind of excited. I know I'm usually reserved but hey. It's exciting.

[PotVsKtl]

I'm pretty sure gaywad is one word.

[full on idle]

Hey-
You're right.

[Good Days Last]

I'm sorry.

I don't use that word too often.

[Bosco]

this shit is awesome!!!.....got one Zune already....working on my second!

MORE VISTAS!!!!! PLEASE!!!

[Good Days Last]

I hope they bring the Vistas back. So far between the two accounts I have I have ordered AND gained confirmation for:

1 Zune
1 Zune Case
2 Magazine subscriptions

And I don't really know what else to do with this whole club live crap anymore. It was okay until they started locking everything down and taking away all the stuff and making it impossible to get a 360 already.

[Tylerdurden31]

check again

http://livemacro.googlepages.com/index.html

"The page you have requested has been disabled by Google. Learn More"

[Good Days Last]

Yeah. Live Macro is out.. there are mirrors though. Good luck finding those.

LM is reportedly the only bot still working though. And only while using Internet Explorer.

They've updated prizes and not surprisingly we're starting to feel the heat from the fires the botters have started. While Vista used to be 6000 they now have a lamer version of Vista up for 20,000.

I'm going to get me another Zune and then try to quit.

[Bosco]

sweet 2 zunes for me!