Just over two years ago, BusinessObjects launched Information OnDemand, an online store allowing you to buy information from premium providers such as Dun & Bradstree, the US Census Bureau, NewsTin, etc.

And now Microsoft have launched their “Dallas” project, a variation on the same theme:

“Microsoft’s Information Services business, enabling developers and information workers to instantly find, purchase, and manage datasets to power the next set of applications—powered by premium content”

In today’s increasingly mashed-up world of analytics, let’s all hope that standards will emerge that will allow purchase and use of information from any data provider – so that any organization can choose to sell subsets of its information assets on the open market.

This will inevitably require big changes to data governance and authorization. How long before the copying and piracy problems that have beset the music industry start doing damage to business data sets?