On the off-chance you need yet another reason to drop that clunky ol' Mac as soon as Windows XP surfaces this fall, here are two words that will sway you even further: Smart Tags. What are Smart Tags, you ask? Well, according to a The Wall Street Journal article we dug up on the advice of faithful viewer Andrea Parent, the version of Internet Explorer bundled wi-- er, sorry-- inextricably integrated into Windows XP can actually add links to web pages on the fly. In other words, let's say you load a web page, and somewhere in the text of that page is the word "kumquat." It's not a link-- it's just a regular ol' word, and users of all other browsers see it as such. But under Windows XP, "kumquat" may show up as a link that takes you to, say, Microsoft's web page for Kumquat XP, due next spring for the low, low price of $99 (preorders accepted now). This all happens conveniently without the actual web page author's help-- or, indeed, even his/her knowledge.

The upshot, of course, is that now that Microsoft has used its operating system monopoly to establish a web browser monopoly, the company is in a terrific position to abuse both of those standings by altering the very content of the Internet to turn the entire web into one big Microsoft ad. Every instance of the word "Miami" could take you to an Expedia list of departing flights, every use of the phrase "word processor" could take you to the Word page, etc. We can only surmise that before long, all occurrences of the word "God" will point to this dweeb.

Personally, we'd be pretty surprised if this "feature" didn't find its way into the Mac version of Internet Explorer before long, but to start, only those smart enough to install Windows XP will get to experience what Microsoft calls "another step in personalizing the Web and helping bring it to life for individuals by allowing them to get the information they want in the way they want it." The goal, says Microsoft, is to protect users from the horror of "under-linked" sites. Strangely enough, however, this wonderful feature (that will surely be universally adored by users and web page authors alike) will actually be off by default! What's more, stodgy webmasters who, for whatever bizarre reason, don't want Microsoft adding their links for them will be able to banish Smart Tags from their sites through the judicious use of meta tags. Tsk, tsk... sounds like Microsoft's going, well, soft in its old age.

Personally, we at AtAT welcome the advent of Smart Tags, since we figure we'll save all kinds of time, what with never having to research and code our own links ever again-- we'll just let Microsoft do it for us. Really, how much difference could it possibly make?