Slashdot Mirror
Google Acquires ITA Software, Regulators May Balk
marino02 tips news that Google has acquired ITA Software, a company who sells travel-related software and information, for $700 million. "Google said it plans to use ITA's technology in its Web search tools and to allow potential passengers to shop for tickets right from Google. Travel search makes up a huge portion of Google searches, but it's a complicated type of search to express in a query box, [said Marissa Mayer]." Analysts expect the deal to come under scrutiny from the FTC. "With this deal, Google will have transformed itself into one of the biggest power brokers in the travel industry. It will control the leading software for powering online airline reservations. It will be able to provide something in its own search results above and beyond what its competitors — who merely license the ITA software — will be able to produce. And it will become the leading online advertising buy for travel-related advertisers (assuming it wasn't already) if it doesn't butcher the rollout of user-friendly airline search tools within Google's already popular interface."
I occasionally find that I enjoy a product, but I don't think I've ever really rooted for a company. They're not people, nor are they moral actors, meaning there is no real good/evil associated with the company. There may be good or evil associated with the corporate leadership, but that's different. Maybe a company like RedHat, which pretty much lives or dies by its support of the community (they pay for a very great deal of kernel development and other high-profile projects) would come close, but wtf do I care if Google stays solvent or not? Another search engine will come along and then that'll be the flavor of the month for a while, and it's no skin off my back either way.
I'm anticipating the next time I use Google Maps to have the options of traveling by car, bike, walking, public transit, and by air.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
at southwest.com.
I find it amusing that 15 years ago people laughed because all they gave you was a bag of free bag of peanuts and a soda. Today they are a luxury because they don't charge you for bags and still give you a free bag of peanuts and a free soda.
And they are the only airline I fly domestically these days.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
ITA's core technology is written in Lisp. It's nice to see more real-world success stories like this, and that using a less popular language for the core IP doesn't prevent sale of a software company.