Rebecca Zhang, an editor at a local TV station, tries repeatedly to log onto her online space these days but she always gets the same result -- the page can't display.
"I am getting frustrated and I can't tolerate the unreliable service quality of the new Windows Live Spaces," said 26-year-old Zhang, whose favorite is to write her online diary in the space and visit others' spaces.
Microsoft has received a flood of complaints since it launched Windows Live Spaces service last Wednesday, an upgrade from the previous MSN Spaces service.
Microsoft's new space service comes with improved functions like a bigger capacity for online photo albums and search, as well as an unexpected gift to users: a large-sized advertising banner.
But Zhang is fuming as the "banner pushes down my space's title and content. It makes the space ridiculous."
Others complained that their individual settings for their spaces, like color and font size, have been deleted and now everybody's spaces look the same.
"The new settings gave me few choices, and it's quite unfair that they changed my previous settings without my approval," said Hellen Sun, a local media worker.
A Windows Live Spaces developer group established an online space too, called "we are listening to you." More than 200 people have posted complaints on the blog so far.
By the end of April, the latest data month available, Microsoft has 5 million users in China, ranking it No.1 in the sector.
Microsoft is willing to listen to users' feedback to improve its service, the company said yesterday.
"The blog service operators should not change the set-up people are familiar with, otherwise user loyalty to the Website will be affected," said Lu Weigang, an independent Internet industry observer.
Most people can accept some minor problems with network conditions, for example heavy traffic flow means logging on may take a longer time, but they can't accept the advertising banner that Microsoft has decided to place on the spaces.
"Lots of friends visit my space every day and it brings considerable online traffic," said Zhang. "Bloggers work hard to attract online traffic but Microsoft takes all the advertising income. It steals what I should get."
Zhang's space is popular among friends and every article gets about 15 comments on average. Zhang updates her blog once a week to write down her experiences, such as in her travel, career, feelings and friendship.
Hexun.com, which shares profit with its blog users, has published advertisements on 1,000 blogs.
"The blogger, with strong influence power and wide coverage, is valuable to advertisers," said Fang Xingdong, BlogChina's chairman.
Blog is a nice promotional avenue for budget advertisers, such as traders dealing in second-hand goods and online shop owners.
But Lu differed from Zhang on the question of who should get the ad revenue.
"Space owners should not have advertising income as the operator pays for the equipment, like servers, to maintain the spaces," Lu said. "It's just like TV. It's free but you have to accept advertisements."
(Shanghai Daily August 11, 2006)
