Microsoft

Microsoft drops a grade on changes to its Services Agreement

11/01/2012

On October 19, 2012, Microsoft updated its Services Agreement, allowing data sharing between its various products and introducing a mandatory arbitration clause. These changes have now been taken into account in our review and the company has dropped by almost ten points.

There are two changes worth noting:

• Microsoft can now share your data across all “Microsoft products and services”. It was previously permitted to use your data only with respect to the particular service you’d signed up for. This is part of a trend towards increased internal data sharing; Google and Facebook can now also share your data internally within their organizations.
• You no longer have the right to sue Microsoft in court. The Services Agreement now includes a mandatory arbitration clause which means that any disputes you have with the company must be resolved through arbitration.

There is more detail on these changes in a post that I wrote for VentureBeat the morning after the announcement was made.

- Andrew Nicol