Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Beta

Microsoft throws out some fresh beta software for everyone to try.

The beta browser is available for a wide range of Windows operating systems including Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 SP2. According to Microsoft, IE8 Beta 1 will not install on "prerelease versions of Windows Vista SP1" or "checked versions of Windows".

IE8 includes a number of new features including the "Activities" contextual data management service, a new Favorites Bar, an improved Phishing Filter, Automatic Crash Recovery and “Webslices”.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 start page.

Microsoft software architect Alexander Strauss goes on to explain Webslices, stating, “Webslices are simply portions of arbitrary websites to which a user can subscribe to. This enables a user to have updates of sites he regularly visits right at his fingertips without navigating to the respective sites. A webslice behaves just like an RSS Feed. The slice itself will be added to the Favorites bar of IE8 when a user subscribes to a webslice. In order to subscribe to a slice it must be discovered. The discovery is quite easy as IE8 will display a special symbol if a page offers a Webslice.”

IE8 will face some stiff competition from Mozilla later this year. Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 web browser is currently in the Beta 3 phase and has received generally favorable reviews around the web.

eBay Hit Hard by Boycott, Refuses to Change

Some sellers have had enough of eBay and call it quits in a massive boycott, others keep coming back to the same abusive system

eBay angered many sellers when it raised its fees and overhauled its feedback system in ways which many perceived to be very anti-seller. The changes particularly hurt sellers of small, low-priced items like CDs and video games, which were faced with sharp hikes in their fees upon successful sales.

These sellers had to decide to either put up with it, or take their business elsewhere. DailyTech's Shane McGlaun wrote in a blog an open letter to eBay, voicing his frustration and the frustration of many others. He cited that he was not alone -- CNN recently reported that five of eBay's top sellers called it quits after the changes.

Since the blog, the fallout against eBay continued. A group of angered users called for a complete boycott of buying and selling on eBay until the company makes amends. The boycott, which ends today, had a devastating effect on the already stagnant eBay.

The total auction listings at eBay.com dropped approximately 13% since the boycott commenced in full on February 18. This brought listings to a low of roughly 13 million items. The boycott was made particularly potent by a YouTube video, which was viewed over 143,000 times. The video helped raise the boycott above other, shorter boycotts, in terms of impact to eBay and helped it win coverage on many online and video media outlets.

The boycott was led by Valerie Lennert, who was flabbergasted by eBay's new bias against sellers. She remarked, "When I heard the changes, I thought it was April Fool's Day."

Lennart, who sells doll clothes on eBay, unhappily discovered that eBay was not fooling around. So she took her fight to YouTube and urged sellers to join her. eBay promptly banned her account. Throughout the course of Lennart's campaign and other protests, eBay tried to dull the impact by offering special deals on listings to boost sagging listing numbers. Meanwhile, Lennart continued onward, making many media appearances.

Jim Griffith, dean of eBay Education, refuted news reports that eBay's listings had declined stating the boycott "has had no impact on our listings." Griffith referenced internal metrics, which eBay refuses to release, and which run counter to the numbers run by major news outlets.

Meanwhile a member of the protest, Nancy Baughman, an eBay PowerSeller who deals in collectibles and antiques, hopes the listing drought worsens with future boycotts. She says, "If [eBay's listings total] falls below 12 million, we've made a pretty good impact."

According to Griffith, however, eBay will stand firm till the bitter end and will not change its new policies. Griffith says, "A lot of deliberation went into these decisions."

David Steiner, president of AuctionBytes.com, a publication for online merchants, says that this kind of attitude could be eBay's undoing. He remarked on the boycott's impact, adding, "The protestors made a loud statement."

eBay has faced fierce competition from Amazon, which charges no listing fees. Even before the policy changes, growth had stagnated. The company will also see a changing of the guard as Meg Whitman steps down to make room for John Donahoe as CEO of eBay in March.

eBay changed its policies in hopes of increasing revenue from listings and reviving sales by making the site more buyer-friendly. With Donahoe soon to assume control, some tough decisions are in store for eBay's executives which may decide the site's fate.

Meanwhile, until eBay changes its policy, more boycotts are surely in store, continuing to draw more attention and further punish eBay for its decisions.

Microsoft Calls Yahoo Rejection "Unfortunate," Pursues Hostile Takeover

Microsoft plans to take its bid for Yahoo directly to shareholders


In the world of mergers, there are numerous levels of "hostility" which characterize bids. There are unilateral talks, mutually agreed upon, which are typically labeled as more germane, even if one company ends up absorbing the other.

Then there are unsolicited bids, such as Microsoft's initial offer to Yahoo, which are often labeled as "partially hostile". On the far end of the spectrum are "fully hostile" bids, in which one company tries to bypass another company’s executive and board leadership by offering a buyout directly to shareholders. Among the famous examples of takeovers considered "hostile" was the HP and Compaq merger, which passed by a meager 51% margin in a shareholder vote.

Having been rejected by Yahoo's board, Microsoft commented that it was "unfair" that Yahoo did not embrace its "full and fair proposal to combine" the companies. Now, Microsoft indicates it is planning to bypass the board and take the issue directly to a shareholder vote. Microsoft states, "We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market."

Microsoft's statement continues, "The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal."

The decision by Microsoft to pursue a fully hostile takeover is truly a sign of the times at Yahoo. Yahoo despite promising big changes continues to lose ground to Google in search engine market share, which in turn leads to sinking advertising profits. The company dismissed 1,000 employees recently. Yahoo aggressively acquired companies throughout last year, but its investments left it with little to show for it.

The hostile bid by Microsoft may nix a future board-arranged merger with Yahoo, but at this point it may be a moot issue. If Microsoft has to, it can simply wait out the company until it falls further towards its demise, though it would prefer a quick merger while the company still has some vitality.

Yahoo has a lot to offer Microsoft. Despite its dropping search engine share, Yahoo still represents a significant portion of the market and a major market name. An alliance with Microsoft could establish a strong competitor to Google. Further, Yahoo has a wealth of intellectual property, domain names, and other assets that could come in handy to an ever-evolving Microsoft.

The board is left to ponder Microsoft's words, and their significant decision -- as it may be their last.

EBay Cuts Listing Fees, Overhauls Feedback System

A big shakeup is breaking from eBay that will turn frequent buyers and sellers' worlds upside down

EBay today announced changes to its auction fee structure and is introducing new feedback rules to try to make its system friendlier to both buyers and sellers. The company is cutting the listing fee by up to 50% and compensating by increasing its commissions on sold items.

The biggest shakeup will occur for sellers of low-priced items. For items under $25, eBay is raising the commission from 5.25% to 8.25%. This threatens the relatively strong market for used video games and music CDs.

One important change to sellers is that the gallery feature, which previously had an attached fee, is now entirely free. The premium listing features Gallery Plus, Picture Pack, and Feature Plus will continue on with discounted fees.

The news broke during a conference held in Washington with 200 of eBay's top North American sellers. The changes apply to North America (beginning February 20), and additional changes are forthcoming for Germany and the United Kingdom.

Across the board, the fees to list an item, known in eBay speak as "insertion fees" have been cut. Company spokesman Usher Lieberman stated, "A majority of sellers will see their fees go down. We are basing our success on their success and we want to encourage sellers to list more items with us."

Significantly, a major change in the feedback system was also announced. Sellers can now only give buyers positive feedback. Whether this will hurt sellers remains to be seen. In the past buyers tended to gripe less due to fear of a retaliatory negative feedback -- a sort of "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine" setup. The shakeup may lead to more honesty on the part of buyers of their customer experience, but it may also allow some less well-mannered buyers to have an easier time throwing a tantrum over issues outside sellers' control.

To compensate for possible negative effects to sellers eBay is offering new perks to its PowerSellers, the sellers with the most items moved and the highest ratings. Among these perks are increased match-result exposure for customer searches, further fee reductions, and “other benefits".

Sellers with generally bad ratings will see their match exposure drop. Also, any sellers with bad ratings for shipping will see their exposure drop, as eBay is particular concerned about sellers' past handling of shipping.

If sellers fall under certain dissatisfaction levels or classes, they will now be forced to provide a "safe payment option". This is also applicable to sellers with less than 100 items sold. A safe payment option is defined as either PayPal or a merchant credit card.

PowerSellers now have some additional protection from bad buyers, as well. The PayPal protection amount for PowerSellers has been made unlimited. Additional unpaid item protection has also been added for PowerSellers.

Another significant detail on the feedback overhaul is that comments over 12 months old will now not count. Further comments from Unpaid Item (UPI) buyers and suspended users will no longer count. In the past these have been thorns in the sides of sellers, as a seller's perfect rating could be marred by a single obviously malicious user that had been subsequently suspended.

EBay's big moves come as an apparent attempt to revive the site's growth. Despite a broad user base, the site's growth both in terms of sales and registered users has been dead in the water over the last year, showing only minor increases and decreases. Much of this is due to tough competition from Amazon.com, which charges no listing fees and offers many other on-site services. It should be interesting how eBay's dramatic changes rest with its dedicated buyer and seller community.