Polite Dissent

In the past few days, Microsoft has jumped on the blogging bandwagon by debuting their own free blog software and site, Microsoft Spaces.

Is it really free? It is supported by banner ads and such, but so are most other free sites, so I can’t really hold that against them.

What I am appalled about is their very restrictive Terms of Service. For starters, they claim copyright to everything written on Microsoft Spaces. They won’t allow any “harmful use” that is Microsoft or any of its suppliers or distributors. If they feel you’ve posted something harmful, they are not obligated to notify you before taking any action. In addition, Microsoft reserves the right to copy, distribute, edit and modify your post, and even sublicense these rights — but will not pay you for your submission. Oh yeah, they may monitor your e-mail, too.

A more in depth look at the Terms of Service is provided at Sleepless in Midland (link discovered via GruntDoc). Remember this the next time you blindly accept a Terms of Service without reading it.

There are plenty of other free or low-priced blogging options out there: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress (what I use here) and Movable Type, just to name a few. I’d suggest you stick with one of these.