So you're tired of all the ads on websites, email messages, streaming videos, podcasts, games, and applications you download? Well get ready for even more, as
Microsoft has patented a system that can zap advertisements into any application, or even the operating system itself.
Microsoft's patent doesn't seem to offer anything especially unique in comparison to other ad delivery methods. Data about the user is generated, filtered and refined, then used to retrieve a relevant ad for you via the internet. The twist is that this adware system doesn't need a web browser to spam you with marketing messages. One example specifically cited explains how the system could monitor your printer ink, displaying an ad for replacement cartridges when you start running low.
There's no word on whether Microsoft has any plans to actually commercialize this system, and even though I'm a hardened tech cynic I can't fathom the company trying to build this into Windows and then asking you to pay money for it. Microsoft may be gauche, but even it has its limits. That said, I'm sure plans are being floated to build an ad-subsidized version of Vista, or a specialized operating system (perhaps separate from Windows altogether) laden with advertising. Such an OS might fare well overseas, where piracy is a massive problem and Microsoft can't charge the exorbitant prices it can here.
Well, I don't know if it's good news, but I do take a strange comfort in the idea that the blue screen of death might someday be brought to you by Pepsi.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
