According to a story in The Seattle Times, Windows Vista will be offered at a price starting at $199, going up to $299 for the business edition.

Paying for this stuff at such prices seems so antiquated, doesn't it? I can't imagine how much money companies flush down the toilet on Windows software when they don't have to.

I mean, why don't more people use Open Office? It's free, does everything Windows products do and can even be saved as Windows files. Someone e-mails you a PowerPoint file? No problem.

I've been using it for the last 2-3 years and have no complaints.

And to make such prices even worse, here comes Google. No doubt the kids at Mountain View are poised to offer Windows copycats, Web-based and cost-free, supported by their AdWords product.

Vista had better be 'sh*t hot,' or Microsoft risks a much quicker road to irrelevancy than they are already on.

Would Microsoft be the same without Bill Gates? Yes, we'll find out soon enough ... it might be better. Would Google be the same without Larry and Sergey? Apple without Steve Jobs? Actually, we already know Apple isn't the same without Jobs.

Personalities matter.

The search marketing community is buzzing today about the departure of Danny Sullivan from the Search Engine Strategies conference and Search Engine Watch.

Now what?

Matt, Top Rank and Traffick offer some good insight, and it's arguable that both the organization and the conference are bigger than Danny. Maybe.

Many argued that Apple was bigger than Steve Jobs when he departed and that the company would be fine without him. It wasn't.

Time will tell if Sullivan meant the same to his organization.

If you're a local establishment - including many niche job boards - Yahoo! has just given you a reason to take advantage of Y! Local:



No doubt the stars will give savvy sites a leg-up in the SERPs.

Since, well, forever, links from .edu's have been considered the pot o' gold to super-happy search engine rankings. And since most .edu's are willing to add employment sites to theirs, savvy job boards are prone to put on the full-court press to get such sites.

Now, don't get me wrong, links from .edu's aren't a bad thing. However, in light of recent comments by Google's Matt Cutts, saying that no extra weight is given to any TLD in their eyes, I've began to rethink my views on .edu links.

Some negatives:

1. Bad anchor text. Very few .edu's link to sites with requested, customized copy.
2. Poor structure. Most .edu's will link to job sites in a laundry list fashion, which I believe is less advantageous than links within main body copy.
3. Sharing the love. Colleges with Web pages set-up with links to job sites usually have a plethora of URLs, which arguably devalues them. Less is more.
   
4. Time. The great equalizer is everyone's 24 hr. day. The time, energy and effort to obtain links from .edu's are many times better spent elsewhere.

Again, I'm not anti-.edu. I merely think SEO's need to look at them more as another source of quality links and not some high-rankings panacea.

Welcome to the first installment of (hopefully) blog-worthy content on Oaseo. For those of you who are fans of Cheezhead, you kind of already know what to expect. If not, keep reading.

This blog, however, will be vastly different in that it will focus more on search engine optimization and marketing in addition to the employment and recruiting focus.

I also hope to retain the services of guest authors along the way. Others should bring a lot of extra value to the table, offering varying opinion and insight from and in addition to my own.

Time to get our geek on!

So, why add a blog to Oaseo? Let me offer a Top Ten:

1. Content. Search engines love content. And the more relevant content they can index, the greater your chances of being found.
2. Content II. More relevant content should mean more page views, longer time spent on site, increased return visits, etc.
3. Passive candidates. Know the saying, "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out"? How 'bout, "I visited a blog on search marketing and found jobs"? Besides, any search marketing pro worthy of employment is probably making a living anyway.
   
4. Community. Blogs increase your chances of creating a dynamic user experience. Comments, anyone?
5. RSS. Get your content to users faster and more effectively.
6. Prospect. Employers may not return sales calls, but let's see if they'll turn down opportunities for exposure (and backlinks).
7. Repeat customers. Visitors may not always feel a need to come for the jobs, but maybe blog content has a fighting chance.
8. Links. Blogs are much more conducive to building link popularity.
9. "Remarkability." Job content? Been there, done that. Unique blog content? Now we're talking.
10. Fun. Is there any better reason?
    

(Frankly, in my humble opinion, every job site should have a blog for the very reasons above.)

It should be quite a ride. Let's get bloggin'.