Disclaimer: The following is not official Microsoft positioning, strategy, or technical thinking/direction. It is nothing more than the musings of Jeff Brand, mushroom, and in no way reflects real, imaginary or paranormal persons, places, or things.

I read this InfoWorld article discussing some of the thinking behind Windows Live and the Microsoft's move to some form of ad-sponsored software and it got me thinking (dangerous territory I know). What about an ad-sponsored version of Vista? Hmmmmm... could be interesting for the home market? Nothing horrible mind you, but probably something tied into the Sidebar to periodically show you high-resolution, multimedia ads with tha ability to drill in for even more high-value targeted advertising. A tweaked IE experience that included integrated ad window. A permanent "window" embedded in the desktop that played a new ad every day or maybe advert screen savers? The possibliities for unobtrusive advertising are pretty big. So why do it?

I can think of a few reasons.

1. Nominal charge for customers to upgrade: Could you sell a Vista upgrade for $10 bucks if you knew you would generate $300 in ad revenue over the life of the user?
2. Cheaper Vista PCs: You could drop any charge to the OEM for a ad-supported version of Vista, thereby dropping the cost of new Vista PCs and making the idea of buying a new "Vista ready" PC more appealing.
3. Media Center Sponsorships: Prime target in my opinion. Deliver advertising in an uber-Tivo style via Media Center downloads. Collect click back info, provide links to ecommerce sites for impulse buys (with an appropriate cut to Microsoft), etc.
4. Ongoing revenue: Microsoft's been looking for a way to get subscription software off the ground for some time and maybe advertising is the "subscription backdoor" that is needed. Why get a lump sum of money once when I can get nickles forever?

Those are just a few reasons. Maybe the biggest, but I haven't thought this through to any great degree. Would I take a free Vista upgrade if there was some background advertising going on? It would all depend on how "mandatory" the viewing of the ads were. If it was mostly like a lot of advertisting on the web today, I ignore most of it so it wouldn't be a problem for me in Vista. Now, if it was "forced to watch before you actually get to do something" advertising then I would say "No way". But there is some serious dollars in simple advertising that would do little to impact the usability or experience of Vista IMHO.

So, would it work? Link or comment away and let me know.