Yahoo Rejects Microsoft Search Offer

mytrip writes to mention a Financial Times article detailing Microsoft's apparent interest in Yahoo!, and Yahoo!'s rude reaction to their interest. From the article: "The fight is on between the three internet search titans, after Yahoo's Terry Semel laid down the gauntlet to Microsoft saying the software giant's recently elevated ambitions in the search arena were a lost cause. 'My impartial advice to Microsoft is that you have no chance. The search business has been formed,' he said in an interview with the New Yorker's Ken Auletta."

Comments

Google?

[biocute]

"The search business has been formed", that was what I heard when Yahoo was teh king, and guess who came in and took over the search business?

Re:Google?

[jellomizer]

The only problem was Yahoo was the king before it became king before the Internet became common place .
First you take an idea that someone else made and mature it.
You become the King until the market stabilizes.
Then someone else takes your place for the stable market.

It is not fair but that is the way it seems to go.

Like GUI OS's
Xerox made the GUI Interface.
Apple took the idea and matured it.
Apple becomes the king of GUI
Then Microsoft comes and takes your ideas and wins for the stable GUI market.

It is not always about quality it is just about having the charm to get most people to use it over something else.
Like Google seemed to load a little faster then Yahoo so people with dial-ups used it more. And when the internet became common place and mature a lot of people were still using dialup.

Re:Google?

[LegendLength]

The only problem was Yahoo was the king before the Internet became common place .

No I reckon their biggest problem was the amount of crap on their front page.

That quote brings to mind the phrase....

[spiritraveller]

"famous last words"

And I'm not sure who I dislike more at this point.

At least Microsoft hasn't been handing political prisoners over to the Chinese government.

Re:That quote brings to mind the phrase....

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

At least Microsoft hasn't been handing political prisoners over to the Chinese government.

Amnesty International disagrees with you:

An Amnesty International report has cited Microsoft among a clutch of leading computer firms heavily criticised for helping to fuel 'a dramatic rise in the number of people detained or sentenced for internet-related offences'.

They just didn't get caught as badly as Yahoo did.

So - feel free to dislike them both.

That sound bite is gonna come back and bite ya

[Irish_Samurai]

"My impartial advice to Microsoft is that you have no chance. The search business has been formed,"

I dunno, that sounds similar to the boasts made by almost every large company head right before they get their ass handed to them by someone.

Stupid

[nagora]

It may be that Yahoo's search engine is better than MS's (just as a kick in the balls is better than being shot in the head) but to say that the world's richest company has no chance in any field just shows that the speaker is an idiot.

TWW

My humble advise to Yahoo! and Google

[guacamole]

Be very afraid. One thing that sets Microsoft apart from many of its competitors is persistence when it comes to products and technologies that are important to Microsoft's core business. Add to that the fact that MS has a huge multi-billion $$ war chest and their dominant position in the operating systems and web browsers and you see that they have not only the will but also the resources to be persistent. This battle won't be over any time soon.

Re:My humble advise to Yahoo! and Google

[fireboy1919]

That's probably true. But I can't help but thinking that unlike every other problem Microsoft has dealt with, search is different.

Search is hard.

Look at every other product that Microsoft made. It doesn't really require any genius-level intuition to solve or anything like that. It's ordinary, straightforward implementations that are being done. Back in the day it would have taken a genius, but Microsoft got to borrow ideas that have been published by other people. Further, they don't even do it well. Their primary concern is getting it done and filling it with lots of features. That's not going to work for search.

I would put it to you that it is very difficult to come up with a way of doing something that works well when the thing you want to do is hard, and that, in general, throwing money at it doesn't help.

If you are to prove to me that Microsoft's giagantinormous size is going to do it for them, then tell me about their track-record of genius.

Re:My humble advise to Yahoo! and Google

[twohorse]

Add to that the fact that MS has a huge multi-billion $$ war chest and their dominant position in the operating systems and web browsers and you see that they have not only the will but also the resources to be persistent

Thats exactly why Yahoo have decided not to do a deal with Microsoft at this time. Any search engine with a significant share of the market will see whats happened to Microsoft "partners" in the past. If MS get a foothold, next step for them will be to use their desktop leverage, partners not included.

Re:My humble advise to Yahoo! and Google

[oztiks]

MS has made a big deal about how they are going to invest in R&D but just like any IT related industry the day for absorbing customer attraction is over. Google has made its money, now they are big and successful and there isnt a damn thing MS can do about it.

Just like the fact the general market has chosen to use Windows the general market has chosen Google to search with. It doesnt really matter if you have a MSN search tool in the corner of your address bar because at the end of the day even myself who has the FF google search box and the google toolbar i still find myself typing in the web address. Further to that IE's default homepage is MSN and still a click of a button and i can default it too google anyway.

Too many companys depend on adwords to successfully run their business and too many professionals in the industry sell Google Adwords Management as a product, more so Adsense is bloody everywhere. As a result its built Google to be a very lucrative business even more funnier which is what i think MS is really crapped off about is that Google was smarter with this dispursal of stock and ownership. MS relied too much of other investors once it made itself a public company even though they are bigger they've spread their stock ownership alot thinner then Google has.

And why is this you ask? Simple, Google is still bloody huge but they dont need offices all around the world to operate and they dont require to run support desks or create agreements of hardware developers, and what it all boils down to is their system is of making money is SIMPLE much much simpler then the way Microsoft makes its money.

Simplicity is the name of the game and the core of any good business. Because the similar it is to make a dallor the better, then all you do is replicate it a billion times to make a billion dallors. Google's way of making money is 100x simpler then Microsofts way. Again the general market is now hooked on it they wont let it go, of course 5% to 10% here or there might change because of some well played strategies but at the end of the day you'll never have the Google or Yahoo customerbase just go "I'll stick with MSN from now on" just wont happen.

Just like the Windows and Linux choice or your preference in cars and favorite perfume/calone.

Re:My humble advise to Yahoo! and Google

[CaymanIslandCarpedie]

I actually disagree with the premise that "search is hard". Search at its core is exceedingly simple. Scaling this can get a bit tricky, but that has really already been solved by all current major search engines. The hard part I assume you mean is the filtering and ranking of results. Even that isn't some magic vodoo anymore. There are many well known tools accomplishing this. From from more complex topics like Bayesian filtering, to simple use of web statistics, and even "trust measures" (if the New York Times has a direct link to a domains page than that domain is probably reputable, etc). Search as it is today really isn't rocket science. Now web page spammers are always trying to circumvent these algorithims to get thier pages posted higher, but the always changing nature of this makes this just a big a problem for established search providers as start-ups basically.

Now I default to Google and personally prefer Google, but there are certainly times I cannot find what I'm looking for so go to another engine and find it easily (the reverse is also true in many cases). The point is, there isn't some huge technological advantage any one of the big three search providers have over the others at this point. I wouldn't want to say they are all equal, but I'd certainly feel safe they are all very similar in results.

I could probably switch to Yahoo or MSN search tomorrow and not really notice the difference. The biggest issue at this point is the brand. Google has a big lead in that most people are just used to using it and of course "googling" being in the vernacular doesn't hurt. What is required to take that leadership position is either going to be one of the other engines have a major break through on the tech side to be able to offer a superior search (not likely at least in the short term) or they will have to do lots of advertising, partnering, etc, etc to get thier service in the public concience as much or more than Google's. And this is where MS$ money comes in. They are VERY good at the business of tech. They have a history of making great partnership deals which REALLY boost thier products and of course the ability (cash) to basically have every commerical ever on TV be an ad for MSN search if they so choose doesn't hurt.

Re:My humble advise to Yahoo! and Google

[jthill]

I could probably switch to Yahoo or MSN search tomorrow and not really notice the difference.

You'll look long and hard for a slow-loading Google page. I suppose you could bloat your own. You won't find even PNGs, let alone blinking banners or flash. What happens when you follow that nice "More..." button on MSN and Yahoo? After Google, theirs just seem lame. Got a box that will run Google Earth? Google do awe-inspiring things and give them away. Sure they're going to make money. That's how they stay in business. But they make money with people who use their tools to make money, and they know, no matter how counterintuitive it seems, that those aren't their most important customers. They treat all their customers right. The guys at Yahoo sorta get it. Microsoft ... well:

They have a history of making great partnership deals which REALLY boost thier products

They seem to be running out of willing partners. I wonder how that happened?

Really why should they?

[jellomizer]

don't see what Yahoo really has to gain with MSN? I like google so I use it. My Girl Friend prefers Yahoo. And I am sure someone out there prefers MSN. But most of the sites they all have. If I find one search method is becoming to tedious then I use an other one. Combining Yahoo and MSN would hurt Yahoo. First there is the people who just don't use MS. Stuff when possible which would be around 10% of the population (Figuring most Linux users and Apple users alternative OS users, and windows users who are afraid of Microsoft dominance but only know windows. ). Yahoo will need to split their advertising dollars with MS. Any software improvements probably wont affect the bottom line. And it will do nothing against Google. Google is a verb in the english language now. When the company branding becomes imbedded in the culture it is difficult to change it. Like Jello and Kleenex other companies can sell similar products but the culture still thinks of the brand name. Going with Yahoo will only benefit MS. And at best Yahoo will loose nothing, but in reality yahoo my loose more.

Specialize

[Bios_Hakr]

While MS might have problems breaking into a full search system, there is a ton of room for a company that can do one thing really well.

Look at ISO Hunt. They picked an area and really cached in on it.

My advice to MS: become the best video game search engine out there. It'd be really easy. Have a box to search and buttons to look for reviews, purchace, FAQs/walkthroughs, and cheats.

Hell, you could pick anything. But do one thing and do it really well.

Bull

[slashmojo]

Bull, meet red rag..