Gatineau: Microsoft Web Analytics — It’s Coming (or so they say)

Jan 9, 2007 by Tamar Weinberg | Microsoft

Rumor has it that Google Analytics is getting competition: its rival, Microsoft, is working on an analytics platform called Gatineau (for now). You can’t log in just yet — well, you can, but it will log you out.

Here’s a sneak peek of the welcome screen:

Microsoft Gatineau Welcome Screen

If this truly will be Google Analytics’s competition, I’m hoping this is going to address several shortcomings that I’ve found in Google Analytics, particularly the notion of inaccurate counts (especially when compared with Urchin, which is ironic given that Google purchased Urchin yet dropped its core functionality), the absence of the direct referral page in the analysis review, and complexity (especially for newbies — how about simple Urchin-like reports and an advanced view?)

I’m looking forward to seeing this new analytics tool which hopefully will integrate the best of Google Analytics with its own unique flavor.

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17 Responses to “Gatineau: Microsoft Web Analytics — It’s Coming (or so they say)”

  1. WebMetricsGuru on January 9th, 2007 4:03 pm

    Microsoft Analytics?…

    Gatineau….it's called "Gatineau" – that is, the nickname for the new Google Analytics killer from Microsoft, according to the 10e20 blog.  I tired to log in using my Live Password, but was not able to.  10e20 heard about if fr…

  2. Ian Thomas on January 9th, 2007 5:58 pm

    Yes, Gatineau is the code-name for our web analytics project. This is a closed alpha so don’t expect to get access for the time being.

    You can read a little more information about the project here.

    We’re very keen to understand how we can make the product deliver what users need, so if you have more thoughts like the one in the post above, I’d be delighted to hear them. You can contact me via my blog.

  3. Anonymous on January 9th, 2007 7:31 pm

    Gatineau: Microsoft Web Analytics — It’s Coming (or so they say)…

    It looks like Microsoft is going to be coming out with a free competitor to Google Analytics. There are few details so far, but competition is always a good thing in my book!…

  4. ELM on January 9th, 2007 7:55 pm

    This is great stuff Tamar! Now I’d love anything that can’t really compete against Google Analytics. That tracking is pretty unrealiable if you ask me.

    Let’s see if Microsoft has the right stuff!

    ERIKA

  5. Tamar Weinberg on January 10th, 2007 9:15 am

    Ian — I’m very excited! Thanks for the confirmation!

  6. Blake P. on January 10th, 2007 3:06 pm

    We are all going to win on this one because it forces Google to tighten their stuff up. At least now we have a “2nd opinion”.

  7. Crou on March 2nd, 2007 8:44 pm

    Interesting… Back in May 2006, Microsoft acquired a small company in Gatineau/Ottawa (Canada) called Deepmetrix. This company had an online product for web analysis (Livestats.Biz). So this Gatineau project is probably a rebranded and upgraded version of Livestats ;-)

    This move was very predictable from Microsoft when Google acquired Urchin.

  8. Matt Keegan on April 10th, 2007 4:21 pm

    Ah, I stumbled onto this page. Glad I did as I though Google Analytics was unbeatable. I am no fan of Microsoft, but if they can do it better, then more power to them.

  9. Yuvi on July 31st, 2007 12:47 am

    Great News, I am using Google Analytics for all my websites lets see how Gatineau makes it easy & detailed tracking of visitors.

    Eagrly Waiting!

  10. Search Engine Roundtable on September 18th, 2007 9:02 am

    Microsoft to Launch Analytics Platform, Gatineau…

    It’s been 8 months since I initially reported on Microsoft Gatineau, and now the forums have gotten hold of the news. DigitalPoint Forums members are happy to see that other alternatives are available, and Search Engine Roundtable Forums members are…..

  11. Microsoft Offering Web Analytics With Gatineau . on September 19th, 2007 8:11 am

    [...] Tamar blogged about this back in January and there are all types of screenshots from the lucky few that have been able to get a sneak peek. Microsoft’s Gatineau web site is setup to accept applications, though it will cost you $5. [...]

  12. annplugged on September 24th, 2007 8:54 am

    Hello All, hello Tamar,

    I have made a quick update on Gatineau proceedings based on Ian’s info

  13. » MSN Jumps on the Analytics Train - Project Gatineau in beta » SEOpittfall » Archive - Search Engine Optimization by pittfall! on October 29th, 2007 8:22 pm

    [...] has been promoting the project for some time now, as noted by Tamar at 10e20 back in January, and again in March during a review of low cost analytics: With Gatineau around the corner (and we [...]

  14. Daniel Spohn on December 14th, 2007 10:40 pm

    When I try to log into Gatineau, I receive a Server error.

  15. Justo on January 16th, 2008 12:03 pm

    You could find a review on Gatineau implementation at

    http://www.analytics20.org/tools/microsoft-gatineu-review-first-part/

    with regards to privacy concerns on personal information

    http://www.analytics20.org/web-analytics/the-importance-of-a-good-information-source/

    Cheers,

  16. Jason Smith on January 21st, 2008 11:28 pm

    I also received a server error when trying to login, using the URL posted on this post.

    However I was able to login, using the URL Below:
    http://advertising.microsoft.com/gatineau

  17. Jim Brown on February 20th, 2008 10:22 pm

    I’ve been using Gatineau Beta for some time now, on a few of my sites. I like how it integrates with Microsoft adCenter. However I think that I still prefer Google Analytics. They are quite similar in functionality, but I really dislike the $5 charge for signing up.

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