info [ AT ] redcardinal [ DOT ] ie
Microsoft Gatineau
So I got to do some UAT testing for Microsoft yesterday. I was very lucky to have Reeves Little ask me to come in and look at a few of the modules within Gatineau, Microsoft’s Google Analytics competitor killer. Some really fascinating data is going to be made available within Gatineau that was simply unheard of up till now.
I’m all NDA’d up, but as DaveN has already mentioned the demographic info, I think it’s safe for me to say that this data is really cool. I got to see some data, and boy oh boy – it’s really going to be awesome to have such granular information about your visitors/customers.
What I saw was by no means perfect, but that was exactly why MS is running the user testing – to make Gatineau work exactly how webmasters expect and want.
Quite honestly, I think if Microsoft Gatineau lives up to what’s being billed then GA are going to have some serious competition on their hands. It’s going to be a serious, serious package. And I think some of the big analytics vendors are going to have an even harder time justifying their pricing given that far superior products are going to be available for free…
One last interesting tidbit (found via Google) – Live login for Gatineau:
Richard,
could you get that login to work? It keeps throwing me back to the login screen.
Comment by Tom Raftery — August 22, 2007 @ 5:02 pm
Hi Tom
Nah – I just noticed it on Google. The service is in closed alpha (or beta?) currently, so I’m not 100% sure what the rationale is for the login there (tease?). If you look very, very hard you might find a few sites running Gatineau I imagine.
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — August 22, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
As long as they get the usability right. I have seen many products with better features fall by the wayside because they concentrated too much on the data and not enough of the user(s) experience and presenting that data clearly. Microsoft has many such products. I am not saying Google is better, in fact googles usability is terrible in many cases but they already have the market share. If Microsoft take that long to make iterations they wont get far and knowing how slowly the giant moves i am not optimistic . I hope i am wrong as i am not comfortable with how much i rely on google services. Hey Microsoft, if you want a hand with your user interface give me a shout
Comment by Alan O'Rourke — August 22, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
I cant say much Alan, but Reeves had a lot of feedback after our session. My guess is they’re going to move mountains to get this right, and if they do it should really put the cat amongst the pigeons. I’m very much in the same camp as you re giving too much data to Google. I think this is the case for many people, and given that Gatineau is going to offer features that *might* put Google to shame I think it’s fair to say MS will get a lot of converts.
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — August 22, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
Richard,
When do you get the duct-tape (sorry NDA) lifted ? I’ve always felt that Google analytics is pretty good (for what I need) and I’m Intruiged by what Microsoft are offering on top of this …
Paul
Comment by Paul Browne - Technology and People — August 23, 2007 @ 8:18 am
[...] here’s the live login page for Microsoft’s Gatineau web analytics software, courtesy of Red Cardinal. (via [...]
Pingback by » Login Page For Gatineau » InsideMicrosoft - part of the Blog News Channel — August 24, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
Hi Paul
I suppose duct tape will fall off when they launch the product…
Google give nicely rapped up reports of aggregate data. I think I can safely say that Gatineau will bring depth to data that will add new ways of viewing your visitors/customers. DaveN mentions some features that are pretty cool on his blog post. Cant say much more as I’m afraid.
Best rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — August 24, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
Hi Richard!
That was an interesting post – I wasn’t even aware of the existence of this – the name sounds like some form of french dessert
Anyone that’s anyone knows that the search is facing a massive problem at the moment – how to assess the ‘popularity’ of a site when simple metrics like PR and traffic are now so inextricably linked to your position in the very search engine that it trying to model your popularity.
They need more data – and the metrics they need are things like bounce rates, traffic patterns, time spent on site, exit page etc etc.. surprise surprise – sounds a bit like analytics ‘eh? Google didn’t just pay millions for urchin out of the goodness of their hearts because they are some great benevolent corporate giant.
This will be a hefty battle indeed, and to the victor will come the spoils.
Comment by dockarl — August 26, 2007 @ 10:49 am
And the spoils are…
WORLD DOMINATION..
mya ha ha
Comment by dockarl — August 26, 2007 @ 10:51 am
Have you had any indications on when this may well get released sounds cool.
Comment by McAWilliams — August 27, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
This battle is going to be epic. Cant even begin to speculate when this might be released, although I did enquire, and some time frames were mentioned – duct tape I’m afraid. But I cant bloody wait!
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — August 28, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
Sounds exciting, please be sure to update us the minute this becomes live!
Comment by Marc Levy — September 5, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
Hi Marc
Sign up here for the Beta:
http://advertising.microsoft.com/Gatineau
Not live, but accepting sign-ups. Need to have an Adcenter account.
Rgds
Richard
Comment by Richard Hearne — September 5, 2007 @ 7:52 pm
Thanks Richard, signed up and waiting for my email invite
Comment by Marc Levy — September 5, 2007 @ 7:55 pm