charlie_joslin

The idea sounds fantastic, but what will give the "e-dollar" any intrinsic value? 1 US dollar is basically paper with ink on it. If it's not worth anything, there's no point.

Well Microsoft-Facebook makes sense from a competitive standpoint with Apple-Twitter.

But I think examples like Sparrow (Mail app) represent the idea that if you make it obvious that it's worth paying for, people will do it.

Maybe if they had a freemium system. It starts off free but if you want no ads and more features you pay $X/month. A user could lobby friends to make the jump to the paid version.

Well if any major tech company would go after them it would be Microsoft. Facebook's integration in Bing, Microsoft buying Skype then integrating it with Facebook, etc.

I agree though. The first thing to do would be to get rid of the advertisers and charge for it.

I personally think that Microsoft should either buy or merge with Facebook, wipe the slate clean, redesign it Metro UI style, and charge for it. No ads, just a better overall service. I wouldn't hate Facebook so much if it were actually fun to use.