In today's WSJ there is an
article about this. It is an attempt by MSFT to attract new users and create stickiness. This attempt is tricky because they may attract the wrong kind of users. In the race to become the next business platform, Google, MSFT, Yahoo and eBay are attempting to create direct and indirect network effects. Yahoo's recent acquisition of del.icio.us will promote user to user interaction and contribute to direct network effects. Would this revenue sharing model from MSFT impact either type of network effects?