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Microsoft In Talks To Buy Claria

Posted by Zonk on Thu Jun 30, 2005 09:18 AM
from the formerly-a-no-good-gator dept.
Microsoft Businesses Spam
axonis writes "For the last two weeks, Microsoft has been in talks to buy Claria, an adware marketer formerly called Gator, and best known for its pop-up ads and software that tracks people visiting Web sites. The offer price on the table as recently as Wednesday was $500 million. One person briefed on the deal said there was opposition within Microsoft to the acquisition. Analysts said Microsoft would probably be most interested in the long-term potential of Claria's personalization software rather than its pop-up ads."
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  • ...and I got really scared there for a second. ;)

    It could, of course, be a good thing, if they can buy the company, and use their software for something other than spyware and popups!

    • Re:I thought that said CHINA! (Score:5, Funny)

      by ari_j (90255) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:22AM (#12949931)
      I thought the exact same thing, but I didn't even get scared. The only reason I took the time to click on the comment link without even reading the blurb, much less TFA, was because I realized I read it wrong. Had it actually said "China," I would have just passed it off and gone on with my day. And that is scary.

    • Re:I thought that said CHINA! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Lord_Slepnir (585350) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:28AM (#12950010) Journal
      Or they might embed spyware that's even more impossible to remove from your computer. You thought gator was hard to remove? Wait until he's coded into the kernel

      • Re:I thought that said CHINA! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by CSMastermind (847625) <freight_train10@hotmail.com> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:34AM (#12950065)
        No, Microsoft has had a long record of strongly fighting spammers and their lot. Now Microsoft is releasing antivirus and antispyware tools. What better way to shut down a company that produces so much spyware and other unwanted adds than to buy them. From the deal, they'd not only get the code to the software (which could improve their removal tools) but also valuable code for personalization. I say they should go for it.

        • Re:I thought that said CHINA! (Score:5, Insightful)

          by rpozz (249652) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:46AM (#12950163)
          What better way to shut down a company that produces so much spyware and other unwanted adds than to buy them.

          Sends out the wrong sort of message when they buy them for $500 million though.

            • Re:What better way? Sue 'em... (Score:4, Insightful)

              by rizzo420 (136707) on Thursday June 30 2005, @11:09AM (#12950943) Homepage Journal
              actually, i see no problem with embedding something into the windows kernel to check if it's a legal copy. you can't get security patches for XP unless you have a legal copy, so what's the point of having it if you're susceptible to most of that crap that's floating around?

              while MS wouldn't pay that much to stop them from harassing people, they would pay that much to get the code to the software to make their anti-spyware solution the best. they would also pay that much to get the data that claria has collected in order to make their own web stuff better. think about all the browsing habits claria has collected from people (the average person, in fact). they could easily use that data to help push them ahead of google.

  • What to do with them? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dlefavor (725930) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:20AM (#12949916)
    With any luck they'll buy them and then blow them up.
    • I did think that $500 million was a little steep to buy the company, then shut it down, then distribute some Marketing PR to say that Microsoft had just made progress towards making you Windows PC safer. Why fix privacy loopholes if you can just buy the people who exploit / use them.
      • I did think that $500 million was a little steep to buy the company, then shut it down,

        Well, if you have enough deep pockets, that might be the way to get rid off spyware. buy their knowledge base and see how they do it.

        Off course, this becomes the newest way to make money via a popup software. Get annoying enough so that Microsoft buys you.

        I wonder which way this will effect the MS reputation?

        • Re:What to do with them? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by BewireNomali (618969) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:40AM (#12950125)
          This seems to me the kind of acquisition that microsoft might have wanted to keep under wraps. They have a shoddy reputation as a company, and buying an adware company just doesn't seem like a good PR move on paper. Even with the best spin you can put on it, it just gives the general user less reason to trust what it already feels is shoddy software. And that 500 million might be seen as rewarding the efforts of adware and spam outfits.

          Keep in mind that I didn't read the article.

        • Re:What to do with them? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by saintp (595331) <stpierre&nebrwesleyan,edu> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:52AM (#12950221) Homepage
          I wonder which way this will effect the MS reputation?
          Here, I'll write the first line of their press release for them: "Microsoft (MSFT) has spent over half a billion dollars this year fighting spyware,...."

    • Re:What to do with them? (Score:5, Funny)

      by millahtime (710421) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:32AM (#12950039) Homepage Journal
      Doubt that. I can see them integrating it with their install of Office on a mac though.

  • Antispyware, and now this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bheer (633842) <rbheer.gmail@com> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:21AM (#12949923)
    Microsofts Antispyware's cred just took a dive for no fault of its own. Pity, since Giant (which it was before MS purchased it) was one of the better antispyware apps.
    • Microsofts Antispyware's cred just took a dive for no fault of its own. Pity, since Giant (which it was before MS purchased it) was one of the better antispyware apps.

      Crikey, nothing like jumping the gun on limited information.

      If Microsoft bought Claria, killed the spyware division and used their personalisation tools to launch a Google Adwords competitor ... how exactly would that make the AntiSpyware's cred "take a dive"?

  • This will eliminate SPYWare (Score:5, Funny)

    by spicydragonz (837027) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:22AM (#12949927)
    Microsoft will just embed Gator into Longhorn.
  • What are they thinking, don't they realize what this is going to do to their image? Microsoft, the company cherished for it's warm human point of view and high quality software, associating itself with such a low-life company.

  • Encouragement (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mark_Uplanguage (444809) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:22AM (#12949930)
    Yes, let's reward these companies for their abuses of the internet. 500 million reasons to be unscrupulous in business. This is going to make spyware/adware that much worse. Yea, let's here it for best business practices!!! /rant

    • Re:Encouragement (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Art_Vandelai (596101) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:41AM (#12950127)
      Flamebait?? This comment is insightful. Because of this action, how many more asshats out there will start up spy-shit tracker cookie uninstallable scumware companies in hopes of striking it rich?

      • Re:Encouragement (Score:4, Interesting)

        by smooth wombat (796938) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:47AM (#12950173) Homepage Journal
        Of course it's Flambait. More and more mods on here don't have:

        a) a sense of humor
        b) an understanding of what sarcasm is
        c) any idea of what they're doing

        Unfortunately we're stuck with the current system until the bad mods can somehow be weeded out. Meta moderating doesn't seem to be doing the trick

  • Wow... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by trogdor8667 (817114) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:22AM (#12949932) Homepage
    Just imagine. IE is already the browser most known for succombing to popups. Now Microsoft is going to own the company who makes them. Either Microsoft is doing something smart by trying to buy the technology BEHIND the popups, making them easier to block... (yeah right)... Or soon, MS will launch a Google-like system that sees us running OpenOffice, and pops up a dialog for MS Office. We'll be running Winamp, and see a popup for WMP. Just imagine! Windows popups! How fun will that be. *runs and hides from the evil Windows*

    • Re:Wow... (Score:4, Funny)

      by DrSkwid (118965) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:32AM (#12950045) Homepage Journal
      IE doesn't succomb, it's just having a bad hair day!

    • Re:Wow... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by danheskett (178529) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (tteksehnad)> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:35AM (#12950070)
      buy the technology BEHIND the popups, making them easier to block... (yeah right)...
      There is no "technology behind popups". It's trivial.

      The technology is in personalization of content. Adware companies are actually somewhat advanced in this area. Data-mining and such.

      Everything you said was absurd. If MS wanted to the popups you mentioned you think they'd have to pay $500M for the "technology"? Are you an idiot or just daft? I could write that program in 15 minutes, as could any decent programmer.

      I hope you are kidding.

  • on the bright side... (Score:5, Funny)

    by downerad (29939) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:22AM (#12949933)
    Well, at least deciding which company we hate most should get a lot easier.
  • as if millions of pcs suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

  • Bonzai Buddy (Score:5, Funny)

    by DavidLeblond (267211) <me AT davidleblond DOT com> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:23AM (#12949937) Homepage
    Microsoft should buy whoever made Bonzai Buddy (or whatever that purple guy was called.) The integration of that and Clippy would be revolutionary.

  • Bad news (Score:4, Funny)

    by kahei (466208) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:23AM (#12949939) Homepage

    When they combine, they form a new terror, as vast as Microsoft yet as wicked as Claria -- and our weapons will be useless against it. It will destroy all of Meta-Tokyo, unless we can find the Magic Princess in time and give her the Moon Crystal and the Seven Essences! Your quest begins here...

    (Press 'B' to continue)

  • Opposition from within Microsoft (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sketch (2817) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:23AM (#12949944) Homepage
    > One person briefed on the deal said there was opposition within Microsoft to the acquisition.

    Would that be from the AntiSpyware group? ;)

  • Well sure, since IE7 is supposed to block pop-ups (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ScentCone (795499) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:23AM (#12949946)
    Besides, since Ballmer's indicated that they want to "catch Google," they'd better be able to do some very, very clever stuff with ad targeting on the MSN search side. Might as well buy (rather than build) a business unit that already has a jillion-view history, and some people that have waded through all this stuff a million times.

    Though, they should take at least a couple of the Gator people out back and wack 'em just on principle.

  • You can see what's coming... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Vonotar82 (859920) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:23AM (#12949952)
    Pop-up security updates, click here to patch XP, "Win an X-Box 360 if you can whack Ballmer" Microsoft ads, Pop-up spam on competitors web sites. It is the beginning of the Microsoft Dirty War.

  • Makes sense to me... (Score:4, Funny)

    by pegr (46683) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:24AM (#12949960) Homepage Journal
    Gator=evil money sucking leeches...
    MS=(I'll let you figure that one...)

  • so, let me get this right.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by millahtime (710421) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:24AM (#12949967) Homepage Journal
    One division of M$ will infect software from another divsion while a 3rd division tries to clear it off. This sounds like M$ has some serious inner turmoir going on? Talk about not being able to make up your mind.

    I really want to see how the PR people market this.

  • I wonder.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Chanc_Gorkon (94133) <.gorkon. .at. .gmail.com.> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:25AM (#12949980)
    I wonder if this buyout is just a way for Microsoft to kill off a whole slew of spyware? Seems to me that 500 million is a fair price to rid us of Claria's crap.

  • Is anyone else scared? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by suman28 (558822) <suman28.hotmail@com> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:26AM (#12949982)
    What in the world is going on?
    First, the senior level executive from Gator goes to work for Homeland Security (head still spinning from that one).
    And now, Microsoft is in talks to buy Claria?
    I smell something fishy. Suddenly, the HSD will be buying all things Microsoft, in the name of anti-terrorism and patriotism.

    • Re:Is anyone else scared? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Animats (122034) on Thursday June 30 2005, @12:04PM (#12951441) Homepage
      Department of Homeland Security appointments in the computer security area are disappointing. Amit Yoran, head of the "National Cyber Security Division" at DHS, quit in disgust. He was replaced by a lawyer and TV producer. [us-cert.gov] The "National Cyber Security Division" seems to have been pushed down to a lower level of the DHS bureauracy.

  • Gotta be a story plant (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chairboy (88841) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:28AM (#12950007) Homepage
    This rumor defies logic. By acquiring a spyware maker, no matter whether or not they intend to use the spyware themselves, Microsoft would seriously endanger their efforts to gain credibility among technical users.

    Claria is 'fruit of the poisoned tree'.

    Typically, acquisitions like this are done because it's cheaper to buy target company A then it is to develop a solution internally, and any competent business manager should be taking into account the 'cost' of associating Microsoft with a company with Claria's history.

    I would guess that the story is a plant, and that someone fell for it. Was the purpose of the plant to expose leakers? Or was it a well orchestrated prank? Either way, it seems contra-indicated for good business, and successful business is Microsoft's #1 product.

  • Hiring Tactic (Score:3, Funny)

    by spauldo (118058) on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:55AM (#12950247)
    Perhaps microsoft just wants to aquire a group of programmers who have proven their capability for evil. People who won't let bad karma get in the way of making a buck.

    Next, they'll be buying SCO for its executives and legal team. These are the staff they need to fight open source.

    (it's a joke people, don't take it seriously)

  • The good news is... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mpaque (655244) on Thursday June 30 2005, @11:17AM (#12951024)
    The good news is that we won't have to worry about Gator being ported to Linux or other operating systems now...

    • Re:$500 Million! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bigberk (547360) <bigberk@users.pc9.org> on Thursday June 30 2005, @09:36AM (#12950087)
      Marketing value is worth a lot. People still haven't caught on that Google's largest asset is the huge marketing knowledge they have access to both directly and indirectly (searches); the text ads are cute but not the main show. You'll see.

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