Microsoft announced that it is selling advertising space in the error
messages that appear in Windows. Acknowledging for the first time that
the average user of their operating system encounters error messages at
least several times a day, Microsoft is trying to take financial
advantage of the unavoidable opportunity to make an ad impression. "We
estimate that throughout the world at any given moment several million
people are getting a "general protection fault" or "illegal operation"
warning. We will be able to generate significant revenue by including a
short advertising message along with it," said Microsoft marketing
director Nathan Mirror. The Justice Department immediately indicated
that they intend to investigate whether Microsoft is gaining an unfair
advantage in reaching the public with this advertising by virtue of its
semi-monopolistic control over error messages.
