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More on Smart Tags
Lots of good commentary on Microsoft’s Smart Tags at Scripting News today…including some typically brain dead commentary from a Microsoft evangelist.
I installed Office XP, and have been experiencing Smart tags for the last couple of weeks, not in IE, but just in the Office apps. I, as yet, haven’t found them useful, but see that they could be for certain things. They’re sort of like contextual ( right-click ) menus on steriods. I’m not against them at all — but am whole-heartedly against them on the web, unless they are a “opt-in” technology, not “opt-out”.
Meaning on the web is intimately associated with links. Content does not stand on it’s own. Writers, editors, businesses, and even babbling idiots like me, create an intelligible network of validation though our links. By overlaying someone else’s sense of importance on that network, it will disenfranchise the content creator.
Think of even little things…like sponsorship. Right now, UNo MAS doesn’t take any sponsorship, it’s a non-profit venture — but for awhile, we did get back a little something in credit from CD Now for linking to reviewed and featured musicians on their site. Many small publishers of web content do the same with credit programs at Amazon and other commerce sites. Don’t you think the CDNow Smart Tag, or worse the MSN Shopping Network Smart Tag, will intercede in that process?
That’s a small example, but I think a good one. Microsoft is going to use Smart Tags as a way to intercede in the commerce and content flow, and redirect people to alternative similar content under their control. That’s bad for everyone.
