Friday, November 11, 2005

SOAPware

In 1989, I edited a special Economics issue of the journal Information and Software Technology, which was republished as a book two years later. One of the contributions was from a young Israeli researcher called Sheizaf Rafaeli (now a professor at the University of Haifa), and discussed the then almost unheard-of possibility of funding software through advertising. It was called “Soapware: The fit between software and advertising”.



In October 2005, Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie sent an internal email around Microsoft. (For leaked email, see InfoWorld. See also my post on Internet Service Disruption.)

Bill Gates: "Advertising has emerged as a powerful new means by which to directly and indirectly fund the creation and delivery of software and services."

Ray Ozzie: "A new business model has emerged in the form of advertising-supported services and software."


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