Build Date: Wed Jan 21 00:00:15 2026 UTC

It's sort of like Moore's law or something -- every new alpha-geek Linux distribution will have a logo that's twice as lame as the logo for the last alpha-geek distribution.
-- El Snatcher

Stop Microsoft from Embracing and Extending Your Home Page

by Dkr. Armand Geddyn

2001-06-27 12:54:40

In response to the geek media backlash, Microsoft seems to be backpedaling from its Smart Tag blitzkrieg of the Innurnet -- site maintainers can insert a meta tag at the top of their HTML to opt out.

Smart Tags are the logical next step of "embracing and extending" Internet standards. As previously reported, Microsoft wants to rewrite the entire Web, page by page, and insert links to partner advertisers, without the original site maintainers' permission or control.

So, in order to save your site and retain your journalistic integrity, drop this tag into all (yes, all) of your pages:

<meta name="MSSmartTagsPreventParsing" content="TRUE">

This will stop Microsoft from burrowing into your home page like the wily candiru . But when it comes down to it, nobody should be truly surprised by this development. After all, Smart Tags are just delivering on the threat of "Where do you want to go today?"

Over.  End of Story.  Go home now.

uaka@pigdog.org

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