MSN is offering several new APIs as part of its web platform strategy, the most visible is its search API. More at SEW. Scoble, Microsoft’s informal blogger in chief, has a riff on what MSFT is trying to accomplish, or should try to accomplish, here.
Here’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Google (and MSN and Yahoo) are in the audience aggregation business. Huh? That means that they need to do things to draw in large audiences (so they can sell advertising to those audiences).
This job is very similar to a music group. Say, like, U2. Now, U2, if they are good, will see their audiences continue to get better. Here’s a hint. U2 is good and sells out huge stadiums. But, what if they do something that pisses off the audience? Well, then, the audience will get smaller as those customers try to find somewhere else to spend their money. U2’s job is to thrill their audiences (and they spend a LOT of time and money doing that with everything from lights, to sound, to special effects).
But, does U2 really care about what the Black Eyed Peas are doing?