12 Commandments of Microsoft

As commandments would have it, this list is left to some interpretation. However, there is commentary by senior VP Brad Smith slashed across the web.

The first commandment goes to the installation of any software.

No. 2 is easy access.

No. 3 is defaults.

No. 4 is exclusive promotion of non-Microsoft programs.

No. 5 is business terms.

No. 6 deals with APIs.

No. 7 involves Internet services, where Microsoft is contributing to innovation in the area of Internet services with services that the company calls Windows Live.

No. 8 is Open Internet access, where Microsoft will design and license Windows so that it does not block access to any lawful Web site or impose any fee for reaching any non-Microsoft Web site or using any non-Microsoft Web service.

No. 9 is "no exclusivity".

Commandments 10-12 deal with interoperability for users and say that Microsoft will make its communications protocols available for commercial release, the company will generally license patents on its operating system inventions, and the company is committed to supporting industry standards.

Yahoo! Shares Plunge. How Low Will They Go?

It doesn't look good for web mogul Yahoo! The stocks hit a two year low as investors tire of awaiting new technology. The changes in advertising formulas have been delayed without explanation by "the management".

Forbes.com reports:

Investors quickly showed their dismay Wednesday as Yahoo's shares plummeted 21 percent to as low as $25.38 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. That marked the stock's lowest point since it traded at a split-adjusted $25.34 in May 2004.

A 20% drop in stock price has caused $9.6 billion of shareholder wealth to drop of the map.

According to Wall Street Yahoo! keeps reaping the benefits of increased online advertising spend while continuing to lag behind search engine leader Google. Prospects believe that gap will not close as quickly as promised.

Another blow to Yahoo!:

JP Morgan Securities analyst Imran Khan downgraded Yahoo's stock to "neutral" and expressed doubts whether the company will even be able up to live up to its financial projections for the rest of the year. He also believes Yahoo is destined to fall further behind in its technology race with Google, which will provide an update on its progress Thursday when it is scheduled to release its second-quarter results.

Investors shouldn't worry too much just yet. Or perhaps investors should, employees should not. Yahoo is not a struggling company despite the backlash. It has earned $164.3 million during the quarter which ended in June. However, that is a 78% drop from the reported $754.7 million earnings of second quarter 2005.

Forbes.com notes:

But the sharp decline is deceiving because Yahoo realized a $552 million windfall in last year's quarter by selling its remaining stake in Google. New accounting rules also required Yahoo to deduct the cost of employee stock options from its profit, something it didn't have to do last year.

There's obviously a lot of market play and number crunching going on right now. For the full story click here.

It appears that with the changes in accounting and record keeping the vast losses are actually gains. Some market observers view Yahoo! stock as a bargain.

Yahoo still boasts the Internet's largest audience with 402 million unique users. But it has been losing favor among investors as Google has widened its lead in the lucrative search market.

So it's Official!

By "official" I mean I've seen more than two blogs or articles summarizing the original report.

By "its" I mean Inbound Link Popularity is #1 in SEO.

Fortune Interactive's report on inbound links has gained ground across the Internet.

I do wish writers would complete sentences when summarizing other articles however. For instance:

The company released the results of a study that determined inbound link (IBL) quality, or the reputation of the referrer, was not only the most influential factor across all three leading search engines Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

If it was not only the most influential factor across search engines what else was it?

Sorry guy, incomplete sentences drive me up the wall. Though we are all not only guilty of it.

In other news, Google's Search Market Share Increases For The 11th Consecutive Month In June.

In a blip produced by TradingMarkets.com it appears the Google China conumdrum, the Google Print debacle, Eric Schmidt's uncanny recent comments, nor even click fraud lawsuits can keep the big G down.

Google gained in search market share for the eleventh consecutive month and maintained its status as market leader with 44.7% of searches conducted on its sites. Yahoo! remained in second place while increasing its share to 28.5%, and MSN ranked third with 12.8%.

SEO Study Reveals...

Off page SEO and linking most important SEO strategies, according to a study performed by SEMLogic Technology, released by Fortune Interactive.

Using a very small sample -- competitive keyword "laptop" -- the company determined crucial metrics for SEO campaigns.

A summary from Search Engine Jounral concluded important results:

* Off-page optimization factors out-weighed any on-page optimization factors.
* In-bound link quality was the most important factor across all three engines. However, each engine’s optimal range for link quality was different.
* In determining in-bound link quality, the reputation of the originating web page was more important than the page’s relevance to the keyword “laptop.”
* In-bound link quantity was the least important factor among off-page factors.
* The most important on-page factor for Google was title-tag keyword density.
* Web pages that successfully ranked across the engines all had strong values in at least the two most important influential factors for each search engine respectively.

The complete study can be found at fortuneinteractive.com/laptop