What we reported yesterday about Zango having laid off employees is now officially reported through news channels.
From John Cook over at the Seattle PI:
Sources say that two executives have also departed, including Executive Vice President of Corporate Development York Baur and Chief Technology Officer Ken Smith. Smith, who co-founded the company in 1999, is the brother of Chief Executive Keith Smith. A Zango spokesman declined to comment on the departures.
Ken Smith also talks a bit about his departure here.
The stated reason for the layoffs is the company�s focus on its new Platrium product, a so-called casual gaming experience. One commenter isn�t that excited, referring to it as a �generic search bar with games thrown in.�
In fact, it looks awfully familiar to Zango, just without pop-up ads. Here�s what it says when it�s installing (EULA here):
Platrium is your access key to premium content. It is FREE, paid for by advertising. While online & using keywords sent to Platrium from your Internet browsing, Platrium software (with Weather forecast) will show targeted ads in a temporary Slider; relevant search suggestions in the Playbar; & comparison shopping offers in a Sidebar browser pane. The Playbar provides easy access to 1000s of emoticons, avatars, games & more, when online. Platrium runs continuously & updates automatically, ensuring access to the freshest content. Uninstallation is easy via Add/Remove Programs.
In other words, it has a search function which redirects searches to sponsored results on �Shopbrite�, it hijacks error pages and sends them to Shopbrite, it changes your home page to the Platrium home page, and your screen may end up by looking like the following:
You do get access to games, though (I don't know if they're good, mediocre or bad).
Alex Eckelberry
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