Some time ago, while in a visit to India, Microsoft's Chairman Bill Gates floated the idea of paying MSN search engine's users a share of the advertising revenue brought in by MSN Search.
Well, wait no more. I've got an e-mail from Amazon.com, promoting their A9.com search site, and although not exactly sending a cheque to users, it will be providing Amazon.com discounts.
The page explains how it works, but it will depend on how much you search on A9.com before you can get the discounts. And like other programs, there's no information on how much is enough. And some conditions apply of course.
You can (should) use your existing Amazon.com login to join the program. By the way, you have to change your Preferences to Enable A9 Instant Rewards! Simply creating an account or logging in with your Amazon.com account is not enough (strangely enough I can't see this explained anywhere on the email or page).
Now we have to sit back and relax, waiting for the next move from the other web search players such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, and Altavista...
Althouhg the program seems to be running for more than a year, it looks like they are actively promoting it now.
And why 1.57%? Because they are sharing their pi(e) (3.1415926 / 2)...
