Microsoft Directory no longer accepting submissions
I read a blog posting today by the man Jerry West talking about the Small Business Directory from Microsoft no longer accepting submissions. I wanted to convey this to the readers of my blog as well and talk about it for a few. I noticed this a few weeks ago, but that it was a server upgrade or a technical glitch, but it seems to be much more then that now:
As of November 15, 2006 Microsoft will no longer accept new sign-ups for select Microsoft Online Small Business Services.
These services, previously marketed under the bCentral™ brand, include Appointment Manager, Banner Network Ads, Commerce Manager, Customer Manager, FastCounter Pro, List Builder, Sales Leads, SharePoint®, Submit it!, Traffic Builder, and Web Hosting Packages.
There is still no option to submit to the directory though. WHATS UP WITH THAT? ARE THEY STUPID?  Do they not care about the people that have made them what they are for the last several years? What is it with these powerful directories? The SBD is a good directory. Good quality links that provide good traffic and seems to have integrity attatched to it still. COMPARE THAT to … DMOZ has been down for several weeks now - no submissions … no editor logins etc…that directory is dirty, but still powerful. What is it with these guys?
I really hope these guys are not eliminating one of the only things they have got right. Who knows, maybe they are adding more features that will knock our socks off, but shutting down the directory in the mean time seems like a pretty stupid thing to do.
If anyone has more input to this, or knows more about what is up then me, I would love to hear the feedback.
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Well with the track record that Microsoft has I wouldn’t be surprised if they shutdown a perfectly helpful product and screwed the users and community who made it what it was. I’m sure you’re familiar with my feelings on Microsoft so I wont get into those.
I also heard this news a few weeks back. My guess is its final.