After acquiring Gatineau, Quebec based DeepMetrix Corporation last year, Microsoft is working on its own version of a free analytics offering – aptly code-named “Gatineau”, to be released sometime in 2007.

My take: Bring ‘em on.  Every site owner should use a form of analytics that goes beyond the often pathetic offerings that are provided by the various ISPs as part of a hosting package.  Competition is healthy, but – judging by earlier efforts – Microsoft has their work cut out for them.  AdCenter, for one, despite having the benefit of hindsight, is stil lagging behind Google AdWords in many aspects.

For marketers, this is definitely great news…

Chris