Check out the new MSN.com website here
I think this is a fantastic advertising idea, and finally demonstrates that Microsoft does have some creative minds at work. When I first saw the website, and I’m sure some of you experienced the same, I actually froze for a second and thought “what is going on?”. I’m an Office 2007 user myself, and for that second, I actually thought I had Microsoft Word 2007, and the Ribbon Interface I really love open. And then it took me another second to realise that I could actually still click the search box and type something in, and wasn’t really stuck in Word or some other dream world.
There will certainly be 100′s of copycats around; it would be interesting to see how long this advertising technique will last, not only on MSN.com, but on the Internet as a whole. How willing will Webmasters be to allow entire homepage(s) to turn into an advertisment for a product? Or should I be saying – how much will companies be willing to pay to advertise products in such a way on high-traffic websites, compared to simple banners? On the other hand, will this technique simply remain used within company websites?
Before turning this blog entry into a mini-review (actually, maybe I should write one!), I highly recommend users upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007. It a fantastic new product with loads of (added) functionality – e.g. I can now save directly to PDF files – and the advertising team definitely deserves some credit for their work.
The Official Microsoft Office 2007 Website
Download a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office 2007
I disagree entirely. I tried the trial not so long ago and I cannot stand the ribbon interface. Microsoft spent too many years staining the old interface in people’s minds. I cannot get familiar with the new interface and don’t think I will for a long time to come.
msn sucks as bad as yahoo why cant they both learn from google and stop putting so much crap on their page
thanks for the links and interesting opinion.