During a speech at the Microsoft Accelerator Programme in the UK last week, CEO Steve Ballmer spoke on the future of web-based services, the use of advertising to support a software business, and the inability to monetize Windows Live Hotmail, because unlike Google, Microsoft "doesn't read your email."
It was this last statement that garnered the most amount of attention for the duration of Ballmer's speech. And it's nothing new. We've all seen the contextually related text ads along side our Gmail messages, whether it's for an email containing a link about Steve Ballmer conjuring up ads for getting rich and sponsored links to get more info on Bill Gates and Microsoft, to asking someone via email if they'd like to meet for coffee, and getting all sorts of coffee ads, some having nothing to do with coffee.
Privacy advocates still speak out against Google's use of these contextual ads, but what will Microsoft do? It's clear that most email advertising methods either don't work or are just plain and simply annoying (AOL). Either way, Microsoft has got some changes on the way, for email and beyond.