March 29, 2004
Microsoft to upgrade search tools
Microsoft's MSN is in fierce competition with Google, Yahoo and AOL and it's working fevereshly to put MSN as good as, if not better than these online rivals.
USA Today is reporting that Microsoft (MSFT) announced three Internet search tools to make its MSN site more competitive with rivals Google and Yahoo.
It also says it will overhaul design of the MSN search site within the next 12 months. The disclosures capped a flurry of deals last week in the increasingly aggressive Internet search field. It's an area expected to be worth $7 billion by 2007, according to securities firm U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
In other deals, InfoSpace, which provides online telephone directory information, bought competitor Switchboard for $160 million, and Yahoo shelled out $575 million for European price-comparison site Kelkoo.
MSN is testing a news search engine site, similar to those offered by Google and Yahoo, and will later this year let users find content from personal Web pages, or "blogs." Google and Yahoo currently mix blog content with other Web data.
MSN also has Answerbot waiting in the wings. It's a tool to answer specific queries with answers. Example: Where was Jimi Hendrix born? Answer: Seattle. (full story)
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