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Hmm... Step 1. Surprise the world with better ad blocking tech than what currently exists. Step 2. When trust in tech is established, start blocking ads from

by pookeh 10y ago

Hmm... Step 1. Surprise the world with better ad blocking tech than what currently exists. Step 2. When trust in tech is established, start blocking ads from other ad networks by calling them foul. Do this slowly so it's not obvious. Step 3. Wait for customers of other ad networks to notice their ads are not effective. Step 4. Steal customers...Profit.

taurath 10y ago
Thats just mutually assured destruction - all IE/edge browsers would start blocking all google ads, firefox would block everyone, chrome would black all not google ads, and half the internet economy collapses
- nojvek 10y ago
  Or better ad creators start behaving nicely. Remember zombie cookies in flash, or shitty animations that chew 100% battery, or IE toolbar spam, or ActiveX ad scripts that could read local files. Blocking ads is not an easy job. Especially with things like native ads. Blocking shitty ads should be easier though.
- ashark 10y ago
  My guess is any such collapse (if it could even happen, sans some pretty serious privacy-protecting regulation) would be very temporary. Free ad- and spying-supported services make all sorts of other business models very difficult or untenable (see, for example, private, local voice recognition—why offer that product when you'll surely fail because the spytastic Google/Amazon/Apple/Microsoft offerings are free?) and even weaken the motivation for community-driven and Free, open source competition. Those other things would fill the void left by the death (please oh please) of the spy/ad economy. Hell, traditional non-spying ads might even make a comeback.
- BillinghamJ 10y ago
  Microsoft doesn't have any serious advertising business. Firefox has none. So how exactly could it be mutually assured destruction? More likely is an antitrust lawsuit.
erikb 10y ago
You forgot the steps were all the other adblock businesses get disabled by default, then they get impossible to implement/update. Step 1 can already be profitable in itself if done "right".

by pookeh 10y ago

taurath 10y ago

Thats just mutually assured destruction - all IE/edge browsers would start blocking all google ads, firefox would block everyone, chrome would black all not google ads, and half the internet economy collapses

nojvek 10y ago
Or better ad creators start behaving nicely. Remember zombie cookies in flash, or shitty animations that chew 100% battery, or IE toolbar spam, or ActiveX ad scripts that could read local files. Blocking ads is not an easy job. Especially with things like native ads. Blocking shitty ads should be easier though.
ashark 10y ago
My guess is any such collapse (if it could even happen, sans some pretty serious privacy-protecting regulation) would be very temporary. Free ad- and spying-supported services make all sorts of other business models very difficult or untenable (see, for example, private, local voice recognition—why offer that product when you'll surely fail because the spytastic Google/Amazon/Apple/Microsoft offerings are free?) and even weaken the motivation for community-driven and Free, open source competition. Those other things would fill the void left by the death (please oh please) of the spy/ad economy. Hell, traditional non-spying ads might even make a comeback.
BillinghamJ 10y ago
Microsoft doesn't have any serious advertising business. Firefox has none. So how exactly could it be mutually assured destruction? More likely is an antitrust lawsuit.

erikb 10y ago

You forgot the steps were all the other adblock businesses get disabled by default, then they get impossible to implement/update. Step 1 can already be profitable in itself if done "right".