---
title: "Firefox, VCs, MSN Spaces"
date: 2005-04-13
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2005"
    url: "/tag/2005.md"
---

# Firefox, VCs, MSN Spaces

A daily shot of news from your favourite Web 2.0 blog. Each item has a main link, one or two lines of R/WW commentary, plus views of the story from other bloggers.

## Start-up building on top of Firefox

[ZDNet reports](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5663798.html) that a company called Round Two is building “a new crop of products and services that will enhance your Firefox experience.”

*Views:*[Slashdot](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/12/1441214&from=rss): “…they are offering extension support and bundling for corporations which want to adopt Firefox”[Round Two website](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.roundtwo.com/) – doesn’t have any products yet, but they’re sponsoring a number of Firefox extensions and add-ons.

*My comment:* This is a great example of using the Web as a platform for business. It’s been said before that Open Source provides opportunities for new businesses to bundle OS products into user-friendly packages, along with providing support. This looks like such a play – and they’ll add new products to the mix too.

## Venture Capitalists Bullish

[ AP reports](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://staging.hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VENTURE_PROFITS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-04-11-18-35-36): “Venture capitalists ended 2004 on their most profitable run since the dot-com bust, continuing a gradual recovery that has coincided with the stock market’s renewed interest in young companies.”

*My comment:* If VCs are happy, then we’re all happy 🙂 There don’t seem to be as many IPOs these days though – start-ups are more interested in getting bought by a bigco. A sign of a more risk-averse Internet climate nowadays?

## Volvo Sponsors MSN Spaces

[ According to the press release](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/apr05/04-07CompellingOpportunitiesAdsPR.asp), Volvo partnered with Microsoft’s blogging service “to reach users who are engaged in telling the stories of their lives, mirroring the “Volvo for life” brand campaign.”

*Views:*[Andy Lark](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://andylark.blogs.com/andylark/2005/04/volvo_sponsors_.html) comments: “Maybe that’s a reason not to use MSN Spaces – the fact you don’t get to choose who is advertising in your personal space.”[Steve Rubel sees](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/04/msn_spacesvolvo.html) “three distinct groups of blog advertisers forming”.

*My comment:*[ MS and Volvo think](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000873254) these adverts on MSN Spaces will “add value to consumer’s experience”. Hmmmm. Well I guess it’s better than all those pop-up ads we used to get in the Tripod days 😉

## Other Web 2.0 Links Today

[The Aggregation Kool-Aid](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.dronamraju.com/journal/2005/04/aggregation-kool-aid.html) – points out that aggregation is only part of the solution; relevance/matching are the key problems to solve.

[Is the Internet Under-Hyped?](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=P9686_0_2_0_C) – sure, we can always use more exaggeration and overstatement…

[ Yahoo! News Adds Custom RSS Feeds](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://channels.lockergnome.com/search/archives/20050412_yahoo_news_adds_custom_rss_feeds.phtml) – this was from last week, but I didn’t mention it at the time. Yahoo one-ups Google News (which has email notifications, but it’s not the same).

[ Google top home for blogs](https://web.archive.org/web/20060508064024/http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B010B82D2-4FEF-4186-893C-675085A028DE%7D&dist=rss&siteid=mktw) – Google’s Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com and Xanga.com lead the blog authoring tool market. MSN is about to crash the party though, driving their fancy volvos no doubt.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/firefox_vcs_msn.php))*