Is Microsoft Targeting the Wrong Search Company?
(Page 1 of 4 )
We have heard enough in the press about Microsoft aiming for Google as its deadliest enemy in the marketplace. While the very mention of the search engine might not bring on a fit of chair-throwing from Steve Ballmer, we know Microsoft takes the company very seriously. Why is Microsoft all but ignoring the older, more established Yahoo!? And could it be making a mistake to do so?
Surely I’m not the only one who has spotted this. Make a list of the various services available, for free or otherwise, from Google. Make the same list for Yahoo! They won’t be identical, but they will be strikingly similar. Yahoo! has been around several years longer than Google, and is still considered one of the top search engines on the market. For that matter, Lycos is even older than Yahoo! and also has a wide variety of services available, including email, blogging, news feeds that can be personalized, and more. But Microsoft isn’t focused on Lycos or Yahoo!; it has Google in its sights. Why?
Well, the fact that Google is younger than Yahoo! may have something to do with it, at least indirectly. Google showed up, seemingly out of nowhere, and, faster than you can say “moving at Internet speed,” became the dominant search engine company. Just as quickly, it ventured into a lot of different territories: email, blogging, online photo sharing, chat clients, and on and on. That proved the company was ambitious, and could execute quickly and effectively; both of these qualities are dangerous to an established player like Microsoft.
Of course, Microsoft was absolutely forced to take notice as soon as Google came out with its Desktop Search, though the competition started sooner than that. Indeed, a widely published (and lengthy) memo written by Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie states that he believes Google to be the biggest threat to the software giant’s dominance on the desktop. Yahoo! is hardly mentioned in the memo at all.
That could turn out to be a mistake on Microsoft’s part. It is impossible to say whether this is the result of actual planning on Yahoo!’s part, but it is currently flying under Microsoft’s radar. Actually, it is currently flying under the radar of a lot of its competitors – and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve played enough multi-rival games to know that sometimes the cleverest way to win is by watching the big guys tear each other apart while you quietly build your own empire.
Next: How Do They Compare? >>
More Search Engine News Articles
More By Terri Wells
/ 10 
