Screwups So
FarHere are some questions we have anticipated that you may have about how the Microsoft acquisition of LinkExchange may affect you as a LinkExchange member. If you have questions that aren’t addressed here, please feel free to email us at msn@linkexchange.com.
Is it true that LinkExchange has joined Microsoft?
Unfortunately, yes.
Why did LinkExchange join Microsoft?
Because they offered us more money than you make in a decade, of course. Why else?
What will happen to the old LinkExchange?
It's hard to make exact predictions, but if you compare Hotmail as it is now to how it was about two years ago, that should give you some idea.
What will happen to my LinkExchange Banner Network account?
Probably the same kind of thing that typically happens to any data you entrust to Microsoft and its software. The Internet Exploder page fault is only the first of many new undocumented features we expect to roll out throughout the end of 1998 and 1999.
Do I have to do anything to any of my LinkExchange accounts for either the
Banner Network, Daily Digest, ListBot, FastCounter, Submit It!, Merchant
Planet, ClickTrade, PositionAgent, or Express Store?
Your LinkExchange accounts and products will continue to operate just the way they
always have, provided you use a browser other than Internet Exploder, at least for a short time.
Will there be an integration of LinkExchange services and Microsoft products?
Of course. Microsoft products have integrated themselves with everything else, to the great dismay of the Attorney General of the United States and the United States Department of Justice. They integrated their browser with your desktop (unless you were smart enough not to install that option). They integrated their office products with each other and with all of your hardware, the private data structures of core DLLs, and three or four random quantum events, dependency-management be damned. Expect them to integrate something with your brain via direct neural interface soon... then get used to having your vision go black with a red crash dialog, or waking up rebooted with a blank memory, if you look at an optical illusion or try to read a sentence that has a grammatical error.
Will you allow sites in the Banner Network that somehow compete with MSN
(in areas like travel, auto sales, etc.)?
Yes, but not on MSN, only other mortals' pages.
Will your terms and conditions for sites in the Banner Network change?
There aren't any changes planned right now. (Of course, we all
know exactly what that means: nothing.)
Will any of the LinkExchange services change as a result of the acquisition?
Our services will continue to change to meet our customers' needs, but we don't
anticipate making changes because of the Microsoft relationship. (Of course, we never anticipated that the changed javascript on the various pages on our website, which worked just fine in Netscape, would cause our own browser any problems. Perhaps it is time we stopped using Netscape, sighed, and decided we'd put up with the quirks of our Internet Exploder, at least for page layout testing.)
As a ListBot List Owner, will my email address lists remain private?
We say it will. (Those of you whose Hotmail accounts receive a lot of spam without ever having posted a single Usenet article or put it on a web page anywhere, be advised that we never sold any Hotmail email address lists to spammers. A spammer cracker got through the security of our new Windows NT server in about 0.1016 milliseconds and downloaded our master database, which we didn't encrypt since NT is Microsoft software and therefore foolproof, and he sold it for almost eight million dollars to a bidder at a spammer list auction. We are, of course, going to upgrade the Unix/Linux boxes at LinkExchange to the latest version of NT to bring you the latest new undocumented features.)
Will Microsoft ads appear on my site?
Of course. Microsoft ads appear everywhere else. Why not your site? Just wait until the new MSEncartaBrain implant comes out. Then you will see Microsoft ads before your eyes instead of weird sparkles whenever you press on your eyeball or while waking up and falling to sleep too!
Screwups So Far
