ADVERTISING PLUG-INS VIA IN-PRODUCT MESSAGING

1 . A method, comprising:

detecting and obtaining an advertisement;

using a processor to determine a plug-in associated with the advertisement;

obtaining the determined plug-in;

displaying the advertisement in an application user interface; and

in response to receiving user approval via the displayed advertisement, installing the plug-in and updating an application user interface to display a user interface control associated with the plug-in.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the message includes one or more of the following: displaying the advertisement a subsequent time an application associated with the application user interface is run or displaying the advertisement without relying upon a user action to trigger display of the advertisement.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the message includes using one or more of the following: bold, italic, all-cap, flashing, or scrolling.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the application user interface includes sending an instruction, from the advertisement to the plug-in, which causes the plug-in to display the user interface control.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining target information associated with the advertisement;

determining, based at least in part on the target information, whether to obtain the advertisement; and

in the event it is determined not to obtain the advertisement, not performing the steps of obtaining the determined plug-in, display the advertisement, and installing the plug-in and updating the application user interface.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the target information includes information associated with one or more of the following: a platform, a product, whether a user is an enterprise user, a start date, a revert date, a language, or random assignment of the plug-in.

7 . A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

detecting and obtaining an advertisement;

determining a plug-in associated with the advertisement;

obtaining the determined plug-in;

displaying the advertisement in an application user interface; and

in response to receiving user approval via the displayed advertisement, installing the plug-in and updating an application user interface to display a user interface control associated with the plug-in.

8 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the computer instructions for displaying the message include computer instructions for one or more of the following: displaying the advertisement a subsequent time an application associated with the application user interface is run or displaying the advertisement without relying upon a user action to trigger display of the advertisement.

9 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the computer instructions for displaying the message include computer instructions for using one or more of the following: bold, italic, all-cap, flashing, or scrolling.

10 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the computer instructions for updating the application user interface include computer instructions for sending an instruction, from the advertisement to the plug-in, which causes the plug-in to display the user interface control.

11 . The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising computer instructions for:

obtaining target information associated with the advertisement;

determining, based at least in part on the target information, whether to obtain the advertisement; and

in the event it is determined not to obtain the advertisement, not performing the steps of obtaining the determined plug-in, display the advertisement, and installing the plug-in and updating the application user interface.

12 . The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the target information includes information associated with one or more of the following: a platform, a product, whether a user is an enterprise user, a start date, a revert date, a language, or random assignment of the plug-in.

13 . A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to:

detect and obtain an advertisement;

determine a plug-in associated with the advertisement;

obtain the determined plug-in;

display the advertisement in an application user interface; and

in response to receiving user approval via the displayed advertisement, install the plug-in and updating an application user interface to display a user interface control associated with the plug-in.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for displaying the message include instructions for one or more of the following: displaying the advertisement a subsequent time an application associated with the application user interface is run or displaying the advertisement without relying upon a user action to trigger display of the advertisement.

15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for displaying the message include instructions for using one or more of the following: bold, italic, all-cap, flashing, or scrolling.

16 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for updating the application user interface include instructions for sending an instruction, from the advertisement to the plug-in, which causes the plug-in to display the user interface control.

17 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the memory is further configured to provide the processor with further instructions which when executed cause the processor to:

obtain target information associated with the advertisement;

determine, based at least in part on the target information, whether to obtain the advertisement; and

in the event it is determined not to obtain the advertisement, not perform the steps of obtaining the determined plug-in, display the advertisement, and installing the plug-in and updating the application user interface.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the target information includes information associated with one or more of the following: a platform, a product, whether a user is an enterprise user, a start date, a revert date, a language, or random assignment of the plug-in.