Details of a new Microsoft Web analytics tool, including when the beta version will be released and how the company will get its demographic data, have leaked onto the Internet.
Microsoft plans to release a beta version of its Web analytics tool called "Gatineau" this summer, said Ian Thomas, who works in Microsoft"s Digital Advertising Solutions Group and is in charge of bringing Gatineau to market.
The tool, which is aimed at taking on Google"s Analytics product, will allow users to segment Web traffic by both age and gender, Thomas wrote on his blog Sunday. Microsoft will get the demographic data from users" Live ID profiles.
"I would stress that we get this information anonymously, and there is no use of personally identifiable information, such as name or e-mail address in the product," he wrote.