Microsoft Ads

[Freston]

Ah, yes. Heh. Luckily RAM is platform agnostic.

On the subject of MS though, I don't think they care much about what you think and whether you click the link or not. All they want is to keep you aware of the fact that they are a player in a range of fields of technology.

So that when you consider cloud offerings, that you at least *know* MS has an offering. If you then choose to exclude them then that's a decision from your part. But if you didn't know, then it wasn't a decision.


Sorry, one of my best friends works in advertising. All advertisers really care about is being in the first five brands that people think of when they think of a subject.

For example...
What are the first five car brands that you think of? The first five laptop brands? Same for washing powder, fruit juice, junk food, etcetera.

But? The first five online email services? The first five cloud providers? The first five office suites? The first five OS's? The first five email servers? The first five smart phone OS's? The first five Instant Messaging services? The first five VoIP services? The first five gaming consoles? I bet you, there's a MS product in any of these. I even bet you said 'Exchange' before Fetchmail and Microsofts cloud before Red Hats cloud. Proof that marketing works. And that's why they do it. Alas.

[jayd512]

All advertisers really care about is being in the first five brands that people think of when they think of a subject.

<gasp!> You mean... they really don't have my best interests in mind when they place these ads???

[Freston]

<gasp!> You mean... they really don't have my best interests in mind when they place these ads???

Oh gosh! I'm soooo sorry!

I should not generalize so easily. I don't even know about internet advertising. I just asked my friend what purpose it serves that all radio commercials are so explicitly irritating. And then he said it's not entertainment, they really just want me to remember the names of the brands. See? He never mentioned you. That might be different. I dunno, I shall ask.


Hope you feel better!

[jayd512]

I don't even know about internet advertising... I dunno, I shall ask.

Makes me feel better already!

[Roxoff]

The company that sponsors this site is MASMedia (their name appears at the bottom if you look carefully), and this site is just one of the services they operate.

The advertising covers the costs of operating the site - they aren't Linux experts, they allow the Trusted Penguins, Moderators and site operators to lead on that front. But they do cover all the costs - hardware, bandwidth and technical management when things break or need upgrading.

My understanding is that the adverts here are part of a larger advertising package, they're not specifically aimed at the users here, but there are based on the content in the many postings.

As the site cannot be run without cost, the advertisement is necessary to pay the bills. You can block out quite a bit of it with AdBlock Plus and similar tools if it gets too intrusive (unless you're using Internet Explorer... ). I'd rather have things the way they are now than have a 'donationometer' like other forums use.