For some reason, Mike Masnick of Techdirt is up in arms about the fact that Microsoft has unveiled a beta of a video sharing YouTube competitor called Soapbox a few months after Bill Gates said Microsoft would not do so.
The original article that Mike links to has Bill Gates stating:
MR. GATES: If we did YouTube, we'd be in a lot of trouble. First of all, people would say, "How do you make money?" Second, they'd say, what about all that copyright violation taking place up there. It's a neat site. I saw a bunch of old Harlem Globetrotters movies up there the other night, it's great.
Both issues are being solved. YouTube is now signing deals with media companies that address both issues. In a deal with YouTube, the Warner Music Group has agreed to allow YouTube users to use clips from its music videos in their creations for a cut of the advertising renvenue when the new works are posted on YouTube.
With both the revenue and copyright issues being worked on why shouldn’t Microsoft come out with a YouTube competitor?
Update: October 9, 2006.
Google has announced it is buying YouTube for $1.6 billion in stock. Developing and promoting Soapbox might cost Microsoft some money but it now must keep up with Google's mindshare in the video sharing arena in case a viable business model exists or is created in the future.