Microsoft announced that it is selling advertising space in
the error messages that appear in Windows. Acknowledging for the first time
that the average user of their operating system encounters error messages at
least several times a day, Microsoft is trying to take financial advantage
of the unavoidable opportunity to make an ad impression. "We estimate
that throughout the world at any given moment several million people are
getting a "general protection fault" or "illegal
operation" warning. We will be able to generate significant revenue by
including a short advertising message along with it," said Microsoft
marketing director Nathan Mirror. The Justice Department immediately
indicated that they intend to investigate whether Microsoft is gaining an
unfair advantage in reaching the public with this advertising by virtue of
its semi-monopolistic control over error messages.
