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PlaNet News & Views

Posted on 12-11-2004

MS Stands No Competitor

by Owen Gibson, November 11, 2004, The Guardian
 
Google: has seen shares surge more than 90% since its $1.7bn flotation
in August
 
A new battle in the multibillion pound internet search market began today
as Microsoft made public its attempt to take on number one search engine
Google.
 
A trial version of the new software went live early this morning and is
seen as crucial for Microsoft in its attempts to cash in on the
increasingly lucrative search market and position itself for future
growth.
 
Until now, Microsoft has relied on technology supplied by Inktomi to power
the search engines on its global MSN network of websites, which claim 350
million users worldwide. But last year Inktomi was bought by rival Yahoo!,
which also now owns Overture - the company that supplies MSN's sponsored
search listings.
 
Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, vowed two years ago to pour hundreds of
millions of dollars into developing its own search technology to match its
rivals. Once the site officially launches next year, it is likely that
Microsoft will ditch both Inktomi and Overture. The company has been
enviously eyeing Google's pre-eminent position in the search market and is
keen to ensure that the recently floated upstart does not extend its lead
in search onto the computer desktop.
 
It also hopes to tap into the exponential growth in paid-for search
advertising, where companies pay to have links to their sites listed
alongside existing results. The medium has exploded in the past year, with
internet search advertising in the UK alone now worth more than cinema
advertising.
 
MSN Search will be available in trial mode from today while the company
seeks feedback from users on its performance. It will search more than
five billion web pages and documents using in-house technology developed
over the past two years. Google announced yesterday that it had doubled
its index to more than eight billion web pages.
 
MSN said that its search would also answer natural language questions,
such as "How many inches in a mile" using its bestselling Encarta online
encyclopaedia. It will also link directly through to MSN's new music
download service. And as with Google, users can also search for news and
images. "The release of our beta is a huge step towards delivering the
information consumers are looking for, faster," said Yusef Mehdi,
Microsoft vice president for MSN information services and merchant
platform. "With better results and more powerful search tools, MSN is
creating a new, higher standard for online search - one that ensures
consumers find the information they need, when they need it," he added.
 
The resurgence of search has been driven by the growing realisation over
the past two years that it will continue to drive the way people use the
web.
 
In the early days of the dotcom boom, it was assumed that search engines
would become less popular as people settled on their favourite sites and
portals and navigated between them. As such, companies such as then market
leader Alta-Vista made the disastrous decision to diversify into other
areas.
 
The subsequent success of Google, which has seen shares surge more than
90% since its $1.7bn flotation in August, has proved that prognosis
spectacularly wrong. Indeed, most now believe that search will extend from
the internet to the desktop, with users searching for files on their
computer and on the internet.
 
Google has already launched a trial version of its own desktop search
product, which further blurs the lines between the PC and the internet
while new companies such as Binkx are springing up with their own
innovative search products.