Microsoft is racing to play catch-up, a typical approach whenever it perceives a threat, said David Smith, vice-president of Internet strategy with Gartner Group.
Microsoft plans to unveil its own Internet search technology this year after seeing what MSN director Lisa Gurry termed the 'amazing' consumer demand and the moneymaking potential.
At first, Microsoft plans to use its new technology only for Internet searches based on relevance, replacing Inktomi, now owned by rival Yahoo! Inc. Microsoft will continue to work with Overture Services, another Yahoo subsidiary, for the paid listings that run alongside regular search results.
Microsoft also is gradually unveiling a news search product, called NewsBot, similar to Google's news offering, which uses software to sort news stories based on relevance. Other technologies being developed include BlogBot, to search Web journals, and AnswerBot to better answer questions posed in plain English.
Microsoft also says that search will be a key component of its next version of Windows, dubbed Longhorn, which isn't expected until at least 2006. "
posted by Jen @ 5:01 AM
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