e-Business blog

You gotta hand it to those Microsoft guys — they know how to make lemonade out of some pretty lousy lemons. Take the company’s recent financial report — please.

Seems that the software giant fell about $1 billion below analysts predictions in a recent quarterly report.

Last week, Microsoft reported fourth-quarter revenue of $13.1 billion, while analysts were expecting $14.37 billion. But those numbers, say company leaders, don’t bode ill. No, not at all.

“I can’t say it’s good. We’re still down. But on a relative basis, it was a reasonable year, given the context of the environment,” said Chris Liddell, Microsoft’s chief financial officer.

Huh? A “reasonable year” you say? “Context of the environment”? Sure, there’s a bit of a recession going on, but when your computer operating system dominates the market the way Microsoft’s does, it’s not unreasonable to expect that your earnings will at least meet predicted levels.

I gotta tell you, my company falls $1 billion below what everyone’s expecting and I’m gonna be a little bummed.

But I guess that’s why Steve Ballmer’s CEO of Microsoft and I’m not — that and a few other reasons, of course.

Ballmer’s response to the lower-than-projected earnings: His sales folks are “pumped.”

“We have great prospects on the map, but I’m not going to give you sales guidance or Chris [Liddell] won’t let me come to [the financial analysts meeting] next year,” he joked. “But I hope you don’t sense a lack of enthusiasm.”

Not exactly a lack of enthusiasm, but maybe a bit of a disconnect from reality.

Could it be that the same lack of familiarity with how things really are is one reason Microsoft’s products and business model don’t have a lot of fans anymore?

Just asking.

Who’d have thought a bunch of moms would have ethics issues on the Web? Well, it looks like they do.

The fallout over mommies who endorse products and services via popular blogs has created quite a stir in the online community this summer.

It appears that some of these mothers have been taking freebies, commissions, ad placement and other gifts from the folks they tout.

And therein lies the problem with the Wild West journalism of the Web. Without an a organization to ride herd on the online journalist, it’s pretty easy for payola to become a big player in the editorial content of blogs.

Those who’ve worked for newspapers and other traditional media outlets have been well schooled in the rules of the writing road: Taking anything from someone you write about — even a cup of coffee and a Danish — creates a conflict of interest.

You just plain don’t do it. If you do, you get fired. Fast.

Your career is gone. Your job vanishes. You never get hired again. You are, in the world of legitimate journalism, a leper.

Your only recourse: Get a job in public relations.

But amateur journalists don’t have that training. And they don’t have those consequences. Many see nothing wrong in accepting a freebie or an ad placement that comes their way from someone they’ve written about.

They may soon.

Seems that federal regulators are looking to get involved in the Mommy Blogosphere. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now considering new guidelines for endorsements and testimonials, a move that’s got the Mommy Bloggers anxious.

To head off any government intervention, a group of these bloggers have launched a campaign dubbed “Blog with Integrity.” Those who sign on pledge to disclose all “material relationships, policies and business practices,” and clearly differentiate editorial, advertorial and advertising.

Signers also get to display the organization’s badge, a logo along the lines of that used by Good Housekeeping for its “Seal of Approval.”

Unlike the Good Housekeeping “Seal of Approval”, however, BWI doesn’t have a regulatory board, and will instead police itself.

Which always works really, really well, doesn’t it? Remember Alan Greenspan’s certainty that the banking industry would police itself because it was in their own interest? Turned out that long term self interest doesn’t stand a chance when folks see large piles of money or perks in front of them.

Just because they’re mothers doesn’t mean they don’t give into temptation. Let’s get real.

“Blog with Integrity” sounds like a nice idea, but these innocents on the Web may be suffering from some optimistic delusions.

My prediction: The effort will be just another case of lipstick on a pig. Wait, I didn’t write that, did I?