Tell me this would not suck

[Winphuk]

Microsoft goes after Google
Friday, September 19, 2003 Posted: 3:13 PM EDT (1913 GMT)




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REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) -- Microsoft, which is trying to drive growth by investing in everything from small business software to video games, has quietly set its sights on a new industry -- searching the Web.

Chairman Bill Gates, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and a handful of other executives sat down in February to answer a question asked countless times before in the world's largest software maker's 28-year history. Should Microsoft build or buy?

What they decided was to build technology that would eventually surpass Google Inc.'s ability to sift through the Web and return results relevant enough to make it the top Internet search destination.

"The decision to build or buy came down to our ability to innovate," said Kirk Koenigsbauer, strategy manager at Microsoft's MSN Internet portal.

"Our ability to innovate is predicated on our ability to own the platform," he added, a clear sign that Microsoft thinks it can only beat Google if it owns the technology.

Company-wide effort
For now, however, Microsoft won't comment on how widely it plans to use search technology. While it is a company-wide effort, Koenigsbauer said that any developments will be led by MSN and used to enhance the portal.

But analysts have interpreted the decision to build as a sign that Microsoft has greater ambitions for search, including plans to make it part of the Windows operating system, the company's main cash cow.

"Any time Microsoft builds something into the operating system, they don't want to get that from anyone else," said analyst Matt Rosoff of Directions on Microsoft, an independent research group based in Kirkland, Washington.

Koenigsbauer, who attended the February meeting, declined to discuss Microsoft's plans for search beyond MSN. Nor did he disclose the number of people or amount of money the company will invest in the project.

Can Microsoft pull it off?
Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox, however, said that with its large concentration of software talent and nearly $50 billion in cash, Microsoft could out-invest any competitor for years.

The company is "very, very serious about search," he said.

At the core of Microsoft's decision is a belief that search technology is still in its infancy.

"Search engines are doing a good job but not a perfect job," said Koenigsbauer, adding most search results today "don't deliver the results people are looking for."

Part of Longhorn
Search results tailored to individual users based on a history of their interests and searches is one area that Microsoft is looking at, Koenigsbauer said.

Analysts said such a service would be ideal for Microsoft since it could leverage its control over the Windows operating system, which runs on more than 95 percent of the world's PCs.

Moreover, they said Microsoft's real motive is to build search into its various software products and most likely into the next Windows version, which is code-named Longhorn.

Gates has promised that Longhorn, which is expected to launch in 2005 or 2006, will include database technology to make it easier for users to track and find information on their computers.

"Long-term, all roads lead to Longhorn," Wilcox said.

Targetting users
This isn't the first time that Microsoft has put the search market in its crosshairs.

In 1997, the company looked into developing search for MSN, but decided to team up with Inktomi instead.

"We'll continue to partner with Inktomi in the near-term but at some point we'll go on our own," Koenigsbauer said.

That also brings into question MSN's alliance with Overture Services Inc., a leader in search-based advertising.

Koenigsbauer said the partnership is continuing for the "medium-term," and Microsoft is happy with its relationships with both companies, which are set to become part of Yahoo Inc., an MSN competitor.

Yahoo, under pressure from Google, has been buying search technologies and marketing its services in television commercials to attract visitors to its site.


http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/interne...t.google.reut/

[rainbowdemon]

Chairman Bill Gates, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and a handful of other executives sat down in February to answer a question asked countless times before in the world's largest software maker's 28-year history. Should Microsoft build or buy?

It looks to me that Gates is trying to own the entire internet. And, yes that would suck!!

[Kooperman]

Billy G., from 1977.

[simian]

Originally posted by rainbowdemon
It looks to me that Gates is trying to own the entire internet. And, yes that would suck!!

Not just the internet.........http://www.theonion.com/onion3311/microsoftpatents.html :cross

[Lamourlady]

lol, simian.
let's just let Gates do whatever he wants...somewhere down the line.....someone will topple him from his thrown.
won't it be funny to watch.....*snicker, snicker*

[crackerjacker]

Just because microsoft decides to have there own search engine to compete with google, or any other search engine doesnt mean that people will decide to use microsoft over any other search engine.
In a article that I read where it states that verisign is using technology to take over search engine key words that are mistyped and use this as a means to get customers is not bewildering or a new thing. With regard the same thing is happening with microsoft.
Microsoft builds a tool, or whatever you want to call it, and then have a search engine the way they want this is called business.

Its up to consumers to use the search engine of any company. I prefer google for my searching needs. For my other stuff like music wise I use altavista.
Funny thing how everyone wants to decide what other companies should be doing. Its not unethicial to build a search engine. It unethetical to manipulate individuals.

So, Its no big deal.

[Theinfamousone]

I agree with CrackerJacker, it's about time Microsoft figured out how to get a good internet search built into Windows explorer. So you could search right from the desktop, or any folder that you have open.

[Winphuk]

I just got that feeling, if they aquire Google, it won't be as thourough as it is now. All the first few searches will lead direcly to their advertisers.

[Malicious Intent]

Extra competition would be good for the market and people don't have to use Microsoft. But that is assuming that micrsoft plays fair. MS is constantly in and out of court for anti-competitive behavour for packaging tools in with Windows to force competitors out. This sounds like the same thing again.

[aqlo]

I had a hella time getting msn to stop being the homepage at a job I had to work at one point. Is it monopolization for a vendor to make deals with the customers' security teams that encourage them to lock down a pc in this configuration?

You decide. (I eventually just demanded admin rights on any box I touch or else call somebody else.)

[shawners]

would be banners over google.. and first things to come up in search window would be microsoft.com .. =(

[tackdaddy]

with google and yahoo,they find everything i need.

[lizardsforall]

Anybody seen that movie "Anti-trust"? God flick, the main antagonist looks just like our friend Billy Gates. Probably has the same motives, total communication control (internet, TV, telecommunications). A week ago, he anounced that he was expanding microsoft to 3G wireless devices like their smart phones. One Giant F#*king monopoly...