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Microsoft

Microsoft Debuts MySpace-Like IT Site 181

Posted by Zonk from the get-together-and-talk-cisco dept.
snib writes "Microsoft has launched Aggreg8, a 'social networking and collaboration space for the IT community.' Apparently, the owner of the popular open-source RSS reader of the same name sold the domains to Microsoft for $5000 in August in order to host what was then called 'Microcosm.' Microsoft hopes their new service, which utilizes Windows Live ID (formerly .NET Passport) authentication, will become a 'MySpace-like forum for developers to share scripts, tools, or best practices, or even to just connect with others within the profession.'"
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Microsoft Debuts MySpace-Like IT Site More

Microsoft Debuts MySpace-Like IT Site

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  • Seems a great place to post yer code! (Score:5, Informative)

    by weteko ( 1022621 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:21AM (#16812262)
    MATERIALS PROVIDED TO MICROSOFT OR POSTED AT ANY MICROSOFT WEB SITE

    Microsoft does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to Microsoft (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any Services or its associated services for review by the general public, or by the members of any public or private community, (each a "Submission" and collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses (including, without limitation, all Microsoft Services), including, without limitation, the license rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; to publish your name in connection with your Submission; and the right to sublicense such rights to any supplier of the Services. No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein.

    Or; post code for your pet project on this site and we will use it and sell it as our own.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by InfoHighwayRoadkill ( 454730 )
      did you expect anything different... be honest.

    • Re:Seems a great place to post yer code! (Score:5, Funny)

      by OldManAndTheC++ ( 723450 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:42AM (#16812346)

      No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein.

      Hmmph. They should've called it "OurSpace".

    • Re:Seems a great place to post yer code! (Score:5, Informative)

      by calciphus ( 968890 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:51AM (#16812376)
      Or, as works with EVERY public forum. "Things you post in a public space are public knowledge and use. That's WHY you posted them in a public space, right?" It's not like they'll delve into your Inbox and claim that they can use the content of messages you post. But I'm sure, in order to make MS look like the bad guy, someone is going to claim that they will. Ever notice how much stuff in Apple's forums end up in their FAQ or in future products? Isn't that why people post it there to begin with, so that others (even large corporations) can use it? Am I missing something? If you wanted to sell the source code, why would you post it for free on a community page, regardless of who owns that page?

      • Re:Seems a great place to post yer code! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by binkzz ( 779594 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @06:02AM (#16812402) Journal
        Television is a public forum. Yet you can't use what you see or record for your own benefits.

        If it were true by default that what you posted, everyone could use, Microsoft wouldn't have had to include that paragraph. But it's not true, copyright laws apply even if you post in public.

        Also, Microsoft doesn't just claim to be allowed to use it, they say they'll be allowed to sell it as their own without paying you. Which is just wrong.
        • And furthermore, I think it's funny how they say "We don't claim to own yr stuff," and then explain how they have the right to do *every single thing that the owner of yr stuff is supposed to have exclusive right to do.

          I imagine they're right about one thing: this site will be an awful lot like myspace (throngs of idiots posting drivel)

        • Re:Seems a great place to post yer code! (Score:4, Informative)

          by rucs_hack ( 784150 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @08:45AM (#16812988)
          television is not a forum. A forum is interactive, whereas television is a provider of information and adverts, with no immediate feedback. You are just a consumer of television.

          They use the term 'interactive' to describe their news services, but thats just a menu system to move between streams. Can you add news? Nope, except by going postal and getting your very own slot.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by binkzz ( 779594 )
            Something doesn't have to be interactive to be a forum. Not all tv is a forum, but some tv is.

            Do check the dictionary, it even mentions tv.
            • check a dictionary? This is /. , checking facts is as bad as rtfa, have you no shame?

              Still, I don't consider tv to be a forum, I consider it to be a waste of time.
      • Ever notice how much stuff in Apple's forums end up in their FAQ
        For Example: http://virtuelvis.com/archives/2005/04/apple-copyr ight-violations/ [virtuelvis.com]

      • it's quite common (Score:4, Interesting)

        by oohshiny ( 998054 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @08:15AM (#16812870)
        Or, as works with EVERY public forum. "Things you post in a public space are public knowledge and use.

        There are actually quite a few companies that post source code and other information on the web with licenses that impose obligations on you if you as much as look at it.

        For example, go to the Sun web site and look at the licenses under which they make Java documentation and source code available; read them carefully and then roll your eyes.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Hassman ( 320786 )
          Hmmm ...go to the Sun web site and look at the the licensing under which they make Java (Sun's product) available...

          So go to a company's web site, and look at code from a product they own, posted in a forum that they own...

          The little voice in my head that tells me about things relating to common sense is saying that what you just described is not remotely.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by luder ( 923306 ) *

        "Things you post in a public space are public knowledge and use.

        By that logic, I would loose the rights to my photos when I upload them into Flickr, including giving them rights to use it commercially... Just because you can see it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with it! Same with GPL projects, the code is in a public space, but when you use it into your own software you have to agree to a license.

        However, MS is free to put any clause they want in their terms of use so, as long as it is clear

        • Re:Seems a great place to post yer code! (Score:5, Informative)

          by gregorio ( 520049 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @10:21AM (#16813378)
          By that logic, I would loose the rights to my photos when I upload them into Flickr, including giving them rights to use it commercially...
          You don't "loose" rights to your code when you post it inside Microsoft's forums. You just give them permission to copy it (aka distribute your message to other users) and do other things (backup your message, allow message searching, yadda yadda yadda).

          You people are all missing the point here. The license does not remove rightsfrom you, it only gives MS the right to publish it as a message on a public forum. Without these rights, they would not be able to even list your message after you pressed the submit button.

          So it's pretty simple: if you send a message to their forum, you're giving them legal rights to distribute it (using the forum scripts), backup, sort, search, yadda yadda yadda.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by a.d.trick ( 894813 )
            Likewise, forcing everyones' work into public domain will not remove rights either. Microsoft would be reasonable if the only required permission to republish the work on the site (that wouldn't have even required an EULA, it's just common sense) it when way beyond that extending to all Microsoft services and allowed them to do anything they wanted, at their leisure and without your say in the matter. Just about everything short of them actually owning it.

            • Likewise, forcing everyones' work into public domain will not remove rights either. Microsoft would be reasonable if the only required permission to republish the work on the site (that wouldn't have even required an EULA, it's just common sense) it when way beyond that extending to all Microsoft services and allowed them to do anything they wanted, at their leisure and without your say in the matter. Just about everything short of them actually owning it.

              Sorry, but you're just acting trollish. They're

              • they're just asking for permission to republish the work

                Then why to they need to "edit" my submissions (in addition to merely "reformating" them)? Also they're not just asking for permission to be able to mollest my works, but permission to give other people permission to do whatever they want with it to. I can only think of a few things that aren't covered by the License.

                "but I posted the message only at MSDN!" or "they changed my content! all the keywords are now coloured!"

                Not necissarily. IANAL, but I

                • Then why to they need to "edit" my submissions (in addition to merely "reformating" them)? Also they're not just asking for permission to be able to mollest my works, but permission to give other people permission to do whatever they want with it to. I can only think of a few things that aren't covered by the License.

                  Well, if you submit a message with questionable words, they might replace them with ****. Is someone complains you posted some GPLed code at the forum, they might edit the message to take it o

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by msobkow ( 48369 )

        Actually you might want to reread the EULAs for things like MSN mail. At one point the EULA basically stated that any and all messages and attachments sent through their email service automatically granted Microsoft the right to use the content. It may have been intended for AV scans and such, but the phrasing effectively meant that if you sent out sensitive information (e.g. business related, code, etc.), Microsoft could use that information in their own business (and presumably software development.)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Kuciwalker ( 891651 )
      How are they supposed to distribute the contents of your page (including any code you post) to those who view the page if you don't grant them the rights to? What's the point of putting up information if you don't give them the right to let other people see it? As another reply noted, it's exactly like any forum.
      • When I read it I knew tha's what they were trying to say, just like when I heard what John Kerry said I knew what he was trying to say, but the fact is it's not what they are trying to say that counts, it's what they do say. What does show through is an attitude, on slashdot, the crew's attitude is that they are just like a printer, they're not really making the "magazine" we are, all they are doing is printing, if I stick in some code or an opinion, I'm publishing it and it's my responsibility to under sta

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Sr. Zezinho ( 16813 )
        Nope, when you submit your code your are licensing it to MS on their own terms, not a license of your choice. Great, eh?

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Denney ( 947351 )
          I thought that code under GPL cannot be taken out of being GPL. IMHO, even if you post in on Microsoft's site, as long as you put the notice saying it is GPL code, Microsoft cannot use it as their proprietary code. (Of course, IANAL).

          • I thought that code under GPL cannot be taken out of being GPL

            It can't (I think). However, that doesn't mean Microsoft can't use it - it means you can't post it on MS-MySpace. You would be violating the GPL, not Microsoft.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ndogg ( 158021 )
        Doubtful. With that kind of license agreement, the only way your code will end up in Vista is if the server that's serving it has Vista installed.

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      so in this case the tag itsatrap is reallly appropriate, who'da thunk?

  • Nothing to see here without an Live ID (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:22AM (#16812270)
    You cant even browse around without logging in. Sites which require logins for visiting should be boycotted and not promoted on Slashdot.

    • You cant even browse around without logging in. Sites which require logins for visiting should be boycotted and not promoted on Slashdot.

      You forgot, logging in requires registering with Passport. That should not only be boycotted, the submitter should be tracked down and killed.

  • *shutters* (Score:3, Interesting)

    by corychristison ( 951993 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:24AM (#16812274)
    May I be the first to point out that it is god-awfully ugly?

    Mod me down if you so please, I hope to never see the light of day after seeing what I just witnessed.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Well, hey, it's modeled after MySpace after all...

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Dawsons ( 986350 )
      god damn ... the site sucks for usability as well... such a poor effort

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by kfg ( 145172 )
      They have their place on the exterior, to prevent damage to glass from flying debris, but for the control of radiation (both in and out) from the interior I prefer a combination of blinds and curtains.

      KFG

  • Open Arms?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by eclectro ( 227083 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:33AM (#16812310)
    I have a bunch of zer0-day sploitz I would like to share with my friends. Also, I would like to be able to stream teh l8test industrial rock on my Aggreg8 page. Will this be possible?
  • I mean, just about any name must be better than MicroSpace for that sort of site.

  • From the license (Score:2, Informative)

    by towsonu2003 ( 928663 )
    "by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting ("Posting") your Submission you are granting Microsoft, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to (...) [pown all your bases]"

    What the hell did you expect?

  • It is as ugly as hell indeed. I think it's a good idea for Microsoft to offer such a service. Objectively though it is a bit silly that you have to login to view the page. Does anyone know of any good sites for IT networking? Please advise!!
    • Does anyone know of any good sites for IT networking?

      Well http://www.openofice.org/ [openofice.org] certainly isn't it.

      Or maybe I am missing the subtle joke in your sig.

    • Personally I think Myspace is ugly as hell. Really, I don't see much of a point to their formatting. Why should a bunch of folks need to copy a bunch of awful CSS stuff from sites setup to provide such nonsense, while at the same time having little to no idea how to configure the stuff personally. Why don't they redesign their site to be easily configurable with AJAX. You should be able to edit your site by just dragging and dropping the different windows, changing background colors and images in extremely

  • ALL YOUR CODE ARE BELONG TO US (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Klaidas ( 981300 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @05:50AM (#16812370)
    With THAT license, how many people do they expect to share the code?

  • Please stop renaming things! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @06:02AM (#16812406) Homepage
    First it was your Hotmail ID. Then your Passport ID. Now it's your Windows Live ID.

    Stop renaming stuff! It's hard enough keeping track of all of these marginally useful services already.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by kfg ( 145172 )
      No, don't stop them now, they're just a single transform away from achieving ID of The Beast.

      KFG

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by killjoe ( 766577 )
      Remember when everything MS made was activesomething? Then everything they made was something.net. Now everything they make will be somethinglive or livesomething.

      Maybe next it will be somethingdead.

      I have this theory. It goes like this. In the halls of MS there are vending machines which dispense free LSD and all MS employees eat a few tabs every day. This theory explains zune, rebranding everything every three years, fifty thousand data access libraries, and error messages such as "there is no message f

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tclark ( 140640 )
        Cool. Where do I apply?
      • Maybe next it will be somethingdead.

        Maybe. Because unfortunately, somethingawful.com was taken.
      • error messages such as "there is no message for this error"

        Don't knock MS alone for messed-up error lookup tables. Try getting MIT's com_err error library to work right when you compile something yourself.
        bobbi-harlow:~ geofft$ zlocate foo
        zlocate: Unknown Error Code: -772103670 while initializing
        I'm sure it's possible (after all, it works right on the official binary distributions), but it's decidedly non-trivial.
      • I worked at Microsoft for a few months. The closest thing they have to LSD in the fridges is Mountain Dew.

  • awesome (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    this will be great! I'm gonna have bill gates, steve jobs, linus and woz as ms-friends! this will be sweet! hell, i might even let balmer friend me

  • Navigation is painful (Score:5, Insightful)

    by calciphus ( 968890 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @06:31AM (#16812496)
    I just logged in, and tried to find a PHP/MySQL group to join. There is no group "search" feature under the "search for a group" link. You can only browse in a very obfuscated fashion. Honestly, they'd better change the interface soon, or you won't be able to find things. Plus, requiring a Live ID means that search engines can't index...and suddenly your site is a thousand times less useful. But I bet that sweet MSN Search is going to index it! Like anyone uses that willingly.
  • Maybe I'm missing something, but arent' the planets a simplified version of a networking site? Take planetpython.org for example. Its participant write their articles in their own blogs, the planet is just a way of bringing it all together.
    • Have you ever used MySpace, Facebook, etc? The Planets are just blog aggregators; they're nothing at all like social networking sites.
  • okay they paid 5000 bucks for the domain, but they still got the .net domain...in 6 months microsoft will sue him for like 5 million bucks
    • No, it was $3000 for the .com and $2000 for the .net, the aggreg8 project kept .org and .co.uk. But I guess it was too much trouble for you to RTFA.

  • Hi There! (Score:5, Funny)

    by IchBinEinPenguin ( 589252 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @07:24AM (#16812668)
    It looks like you're trying to post something.
    Would you like me to ...

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      • Ban you for mentioning/using vendors other than Microsoft, and technologies other than those belonging to Microsoft?
      • Take and use your code without due credit?
      • Provide another mediocre service for less than a year [geekzone.co.nz]?

  • Not falling for that baby ! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by unity100 ( 970058 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @07:57AM (#16812810) Homepage Journal
    Establish a community, get people accustomed to it, then twist them and use them to your will.

    Well-known procedure. Id especially suspect that when it comes from a company that doggedly fought freedom and open source and lost.
    • Id especially suspect that when it comes from a company that doggedly fought freedom and open source and lost.
      What? They're fighting Lost as well? Can't they leave any good thing alone? MS! Please! Leave our TV shows alone!
  • Like, OMFG, developers, developers, developers, friend me LOL...

  • The Software.. (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    is community server, the same software powering thedailywtf where users agree that the forum software is the real WTF. Every page is served as text/html with a XHTML 1.0 Frameset DTD, without any frames* and many users call it "unusable". So it's a perfect match for Microsoft. Microsoft probably just threw their hands up knowing that even if they wrote a system from scratch, it could never outdo community server. Thinking about it some more, I take it back. Community server is written in ASP.NET using Views
  • They will have to indicate that they will not sue any individual software developers, period, before I would venture within a thousand miles of that site.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @08:57AM (#16813030)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • While looking through the help to see whether Microsoft can spell RDF[1] or FOAF[2] (they don't appear to), I came across this[3]:

    "Why do I need to use Passport?"
    "We chose Passport in order to help you consolidate the number of logins you have to manage."

    *sigh* here was me thinking passport was dead.

    [1] http://www.w3.org/RDF/ [w3.org]
    [2] http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ [xmlns.com]
    [3] http://aggreg8.net/Aggreg8_Help_Pages.htm#registra tion_passport [aggreg8.net]
    • Passport is not dead... Passport is undead.
      Now, maybe they are trying to get little developers to get used to it, incorporate it and promote it. Sounds like a coven of vampires. Hasn't Halloween already passed us?

      ;-)

      innerweb
    • Like this: <a href="http:// url goes here">link text</a>
  • Isn't the appropriate response to immediately upload the NT source code that was released a few years ago? Now that I type that it doesn't seem as funny...

    Boring home page. At least on myspace they try to invite you into the site with some content and "new profile" pics.

  • Is it just me, .. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by greylion3 ( 555507 ) on Sunday November 12, 2006 @10:17AM (#16813366)
    ..or does MS seem to be doing a lot of desperate things lately?

    Buying hotels (the Four Seasons hotel group).
    Developing an iPod-clone (Zune).
    Launching what's essentially a copy of MySpace.
    Removing the one-reinstall restriction from Vista.
    The Vista voucher scheme (promising XP->Vista upgrades for PCs bought now).
    The MS-Novell deal (which has a dozen different perspectives, but at least promoting Linux).

    To me, it seems like MS is genuinely scared of becoming largely irrelevant in the not-so-distant future.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by UnknowingFool ( 672806 )

      I wouldn't say lately. I would say for years. It's just now their actions seem desperate because their modus operandi doesn't worked like it used to. They just can't copy a trend or buy someone out. In a way since the antitrust, they have become more emboldened. When the Zune thing was announced, I was waiting for a lawsuit from some of their former PlaysForSure partners. That kind of actions seems to be anti-competitive to me.

    • Buying hotels (the Four Seasons hotel group).

      Bill Gates, or rather an investment group led by him, is doing that, not Microsoft.

      The Vista voucher scheme (promising XP->Vista upgrades for PCs bought now).

      They've always done that as far as I remember - for a few months before a new Windows or Office release. IIRC, Apple does that also and so do many other software companies.

  • Irony abounds (Score:2, Insightful)

    by eck011219 ( 851729 )
    It took me twenty minutes to figure out how to drill down into the working groups and find one about User Interface. It's very, very poorly laid out. Without the search everyone wants, it's functionally useless. Maybe this kind of thing works for social networking where it's just as valuable to "run into" someone as it is to be able to find them with some precision, but to also put this forth as a useful resource for IT pros is silly.

    This is not to say that if they can add a search I won't try it out in ear

  • It's a slow Sunday: It's been written in Java to protect the innocent.

    Department marketing = new Department();
    Trend currentTrend = new Trend();
    marketing.findNewTrend(currentTrend);

    Department sales = new Department();
    Company startup = currentTrend.findStartupCompany();
    boolean buyout;

    try {
    sales.buyCompany(startup);
    buyout = true;
    } catch (CompanyWontSellException e) {
    sales.partner(startup);
    buyout = false;
    }

    Trend MicrosoftTrend = currentTrend.clone();

    Way MicrosoftWay = new Way();
    MicrosoftWay.addDRM(Mi

  • Right off, the first thing I see is a fixed-width format that takes up damn near most of my screen. Guess how often I'll be back. Try...oh....NEVER.
  • Its a trap !!!
  • Creating a small world -- a ghetto, I call it -- where like-minded developers can hang out. Microsoft has their "Microcosm"; for the rest of us, the entire global web is our collaborative space.

    It's a perfect analogy to how the MS model of closed development died on that day in 1991 when the web was born. Not even MS can field enough developers to compete with "everyone else".
  • This slogan doesn't even make any sense.
    127.0.0.1 FOR IT PROS
    "localhost for IT Pros"? Oh, I get it, "Home for IT PROS", except right below the logo and the tagline, there is a navbar where the first item is "Home", so I can click to go the home of my home? "~ FOR IT PROS" would have made much more sense, except that's only for UNIX weinies, but "%PROFILEDIR% for IT PROS" is harder to read. Aggreg8: By Marketing, for Tech Users.
  • Microsoft launches a new developer community website every few months. I'm confused as to which one is the real one. Someone please inform?

  • a MySpace-like forum for developers

    • an escort service for Shakers
    • a color tv for blind people
    • a laundry service for nudists
    • etc.

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