Win XP's Smart Tags is history, for now...

[Medea]

Under withering criticism, the company pulls "Smart Tags' that would have linked words on Web sites to Microsoft services.
...
Facing severe criticism and a potential public relations debacle, Microsoft is pulling one of the features from Windows XP. The planned inclusion of "Smart Tags" in both the new operating system due Oct. 25 and in the upcoming browser Internet Explorer 6 has been indefinitely postponed.
...
But Microsoft said it hasn't given up on the technology, and plans to re-introduce it. "Microsoft remains committed to this type of technology, and will work closely with content providers and partners in the industry in the coming months to further refine how it can be used."

Full article here.
Article also in the NY Times here.

 

[Elledan]

"As a result of smart tags in beta versions of Windows XP and IE, we received lots of feedback, and have realized that there is a need to better balance the user experience with the legitimate concerns of content providers and web sites," Microsoft Thursday said in a statement.

I doubt that those guys in Redmond were so stupid that they didn't understand the consequences it would have. They know all the time what it would lead to.

Good to see that they don't introduce it in XP.

 

[esung]

I hope they bury it, but you never know.. you might just see it in IE 6.01

Everytime I thought M$ couldn't be that bad, they came out something else to push my tolerance to the limit....

 

[xtreme2k]

Now, thats one less reason to get Office XP. Not that there are any anyway.

 

[RayThunderEarth]

cool , now microsoft must think twice to publish their s****d techno.

 

[Silver222]

You know what we should all do. Everyone here should buy XP when it comes out, and the phone in for any little thing that is wrong with their computer.

"I have no sound....I thought this great new OS was supposed to fix things! No, I don't have a sound card. This is XP though, right? Why don't I have sound."

etc....I mean for everything!!!

Nice dream, ins't it? I'll just snag a copy from someone. I paid for 95, way back when, and the fsuckers still haven't fixed that one.

 

[Blayze]

Silver222
thats a good ideal

 

[Conundrum]

What about those of us that didn't know about the smart tags and downloaded IE 6? I don't see an option to enable/disable this feature in and of the controls.

Does this mean I would have to reinstall the operating system to get rid of this? Or is there an easier solution? I don't see an option to remove IE 6.0 and go back to 5.5 or anything along those lines. Any help/suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. This smart tag crap is so annoying. It will quite often BLOCK the URL that you want to get to because it will sit on top of a hyperlink.. taking you to the company's site instead of the place you wanted to go!ARGH! So lame..

 

[Medea]

sorry, posting error...

But since I have to edit, I'm curious if anyone who's using the beta versions find anything re: the "smart tags" in the OS?