14 DAY TRIAL // Google Analytics is an innovative solution that was designed especially for webmasters and is meant to offer them useful information about their website traffic and activity, as well as logs and details about the visitors. At this time, Analytics is the only online-based solution that can provide so many features bundled in a single and easy to use interface, but it seems like the things are going to be changed soon. Microsoft, one of the giant software developers in the entire world, is currently developing Gatineau, a solution that will challenge Google's product.
Gatineau was already released as a closed alpha testing stage, being available only for a very limited number of Microsoft customers. The product is the result of an older acquisition, Microsoft buying DeepMetric Corporation last year.
"I should know by now that you can't hide anything from the Internet. So it doesn't come as any great surprise to me that blog posts are starting to appear that have spotted that there is now something live on the Internet under the name of 'Gatineau'.
As the observant amongst you will know, Gatineau is the code-name for our forthcoming web analytics tool. Earlier this month we took an early version of the code live onto the Internet as part of a closed Alpha program for a very limited number of our existing customers - so no, I'm afraid you can't get a login ID to take a look at this stage," Ian Thomas from Microsoft's digital advertising solutions group, said.
The Microsoft employee mentioned that the current version of the solution is only for testing so the clients should expect for a dramatical change in the final product. He also sustained that the target for Gatineau is representing by the same clients interested by Analytics, but the company will proceed to an invitation-only testing program only in the next months. Ian Thomas didn't offer a release date but he confirmed that the company plans to launch the final version of the solution during the year 2007.