more on Microsoft book search

[yesthattom]

Microsoft really couldn’t figure out how to make Book Search profitable. In my last post I jokingly wrote, “maybe they should have read The Long Tail”.

On a whim I searched for that book on both services.

Microsoft doesn’t list it: http://search.live.com/books#q=the%20long%20tail

Google lists it, even though it doesn’t have the individual pages scanned (that would be against the copyright): http://books.google.com/books?q=the+long+tail

However, when you do the Google search, they say they don’t have it and offer links to help you buy it.

Isn’t that the point of The Long Tail book?

OMG! Microsoft really didn’t read The Long Tail!

Comments

[noglider.livejournal.com]

Maybe they read the book. But maybe they're still after a bigger return on investment (ROI). The fallacy of that, I'm sure, is that those who gear up to sell the long tails end up surviving longer and more healthily, even though ROI is lower. And remember, survival is even more important than ROI!