Having struggled to convince firms that the wonders of web conferencing will slash travel costs and improve productivity, Microsoft has resorted to the oldest marketing tactic of them all – bribery. And Sneak reckons there could be some unexpected corporate benefits from the company's decision to reward users of its Live Meeting web conferencing service with gifts such as air-miles. Suffer through enough sessions with jittery sound and an image more liable to break up than a boy band, and eventually you might earn enough miles to fly to a proper meeting where you can learn what was actually being said.

08 Aug 2005