In case you didn't get the title, it should be read phonetically as "buh-by bCentral". I was just trying to... oh, never mind! On with the story...

Years after having any sort of relevance in the search engine landscape, Microsoft has finally chosen to close down their bCentral Submit It service. Yesterday I received an email from Microsoft explaining, in that Microsoft sort of way, what's happening.

On May 18th 2007 Microsoft will retire its Submit It! service. The service's site preparation, directory submittal, and reporting tools will be decommissioned.

Submit It was a great way to... who am I kidding? I don't really know what Submit It did because I've never used it. I've been there a few times and whatever it is/was they provide(d) instantly hit my BS filter. Going from memory it was a submission service that added other tools that you could get a dozen other places.

But what I did know about was the terrible to operate Small Business Directory, which is also being retired. Honestly, I don't care about that too much either. The few times we tried to use that service it was overly complicated to figure out how their accounts worked and we had to spend time on tech support calls just to figure things out. Unfortunately, tech support knew less about their own system than we did!

Here is how Microsoft explains what is happening to the SBD:

On May 18th 2006 when the Submit It! service ends, the existing bCentral Small Business Directory will be converted to a read-only online business directory. This means that while the public will still be able to browse, search, and view directory contents, you will not have access to the listings in order to edit your information. Other than requests by you to remove your listing entirely, after May 18th 2007 changes may not be made to the directory’s contents. Directions for requesting such removal will be posted on the new Microsoft Small Business Directory.

So it seems the bCentral SBD is going to be retired and everything moved to a new MicrosoftSBD which will be ineffective? I'm not sure, is Microsoft creating a new effective web directory or is that new directory just the place to store the old bCentral information until the web freezes over.

Either way, I can't say it's anything I'm worried to much about. We submitted a handful of sites to the directory over the years but the submission process was far to complicated for the value you receive. All I can say about this is that it's about time!