The End of MS Tag

Three years ago, I wrote about the deficiencies in Microsoft's Tag system. It was painfully obvious even then that MS had no desire to back the "standard" they'd tried to create. They couldn't even be bothered to leverage the then-new Windows Phone to get the reader into customers' hands.

Their terms and conditions at the time said

We will also use commercially reasonable efforts to make these basic features available until at least January 1, 2015, and provide two years prior notice before we terminate the basic features or the entire Microsoft Tag service.

Well, they've just given their two years' notice. They've offloaded the entire service off to ScanBuy:

Through August 19, 2015, you will be able to continue to log into your existing Microsoft Tag service account, use existing Microsoft Tag codes, generate new Microsoft Tags, and run reports as usual. Scanbuy plans to support Microsoft Tag Technology on the ScanLife platform beginning no later than September 18th, 2013, and to offer transition and migration services to Microsoft Tag customers who choose to migrate to the ScanLife platform.

I've got nothing against ScanBuy - but why would anyone carry on with this ridiculous platform now? What's to stop ScanBuy in the future abandoning it, going bust, or radically changing the pricing structure? Nothing.

With QR codes, you have an open standard where the destination is controlled by you! There's no relying on the largesse of multinationals to keep a service running.