Having worked at CDnow back in '98-99 and being part of one of the grand front page re-designs, I had to deal with every department (of a company of only about

Having worked at CDnow back in '98-99 and being part of one of the grand front page re-designs, I had to deal with every department (of a company of only about 350 people, mind you) that wanted a piece of the above the fold space. • Operations wanted order status • Affiliate marketing wanted a promo • Corporate affiliate marketing wanted a promo • The merchandizing people wanted…merch promos • The bizdev people wanted ads and partner logos. • Ad nauseam. Balancing the interests of all these groups, who seemed not even dimly aware that they existed only to the extent that the whole thrived, was difficult. (CDnow was eventually bought by Bertelsmann and turned into a redirect to Amazon, by the way…) I can imagine similar conversations regarding the content of the Microsoft front page title. And there's probably extensive internal front page title page kremlinology, where employees track the waxing and waning of various business groups by watching what the keeper of the page title deems worth highlighting, and in what order.