I have to give it up to MSN for the effort. While they do seem to take great ideas then beat them against a rock with things that sort of suck the fun out of the original idea by trying to implement some limitation - the effort is there at least.

MSN is in the process of revamping the MSN shopping portal, hoping to better compete with Google’s Froogle, eBay and Amazon.com, as well as comparison-shopping sites such as BizRate and Yahoo’s Shopping.

Jim Barr, General Manager of MSN Shopping & Marketplaces said Microsoft’s goal is to make its shopping site more convenient and complete.

“Our ability to expose our shopping experience across the entire MSN Network is a strong advantage for our merchants and our consumers,” Barr told Microsoft Watch.

The exact launch date of the new shopping portal is not yet public. But the new site will likely launch this summer, according to officials with the Redmond software vendor. [Read the rest]