In our hour-long interview nestled inside Yahoo’s little purple meeting room, Ken Norton and Grace Chen revealed how Yahoo plans to take on Google, future plans for Local Search and personalization, and more. But Chris had one question burning in the back of his mind: what about Microsoft?

“Certainly one lesson I’ve learned in the search space is you don’t underestimate any of your competitors,” Ken said. “Five years ago, people said, ‘You know, these Google guys are kind of interesting but look at all these other brands who have all the money.’ And look what they did. They came up with a really great technology. So, we’ve learned not to underestimate anybody.

“That said, I think search is different from other forms of business that Microsoft is used to. I think they acknowledge that and they know that it’s a different type of problem. Clearly, they’re investing in that.”

Ken wouldn’t comment on where he thinks Microsoft is headed but says that rather than trying to “second guess” its competition, Yahoo! is staying focused on its own search technology and gaining more market share in the search industry. “Hopefully,” he said, “by the time new properties and new products come out, people will feel that the Yahoo! Search experience is so outstanding they’ll have built this type of relationship with Yahoo! that will solidify our position.”

There’s been a lot of talk surrounding Microsoft’s upcoming release of Longhorn, which will reportedly integrate desktop search. Chris asked whether Yahoo! plans on moving in a similar direction.

Ken says Yahoo! is “certainly thinking about” doing something similar, as it “creates a better user experience.” While Microsoft may feel the need to incorporate the desktop into its search, he claims Yahoo! doesn’t “feel the need to take sides. We’re in a good position to look at this problem holistically.”

Yahoo! threw a party Wednesday night at the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation, inviting people to join Yahoo! in “a place devoted to the never-ending quest for the Next Big Thing.” The point behind this marketing strategy is obvious. Yahoo! “always innovates,” Ken says, and Yahoo! Search technology is just the beginning.

"Heated competition is the greatest thing for consumers,” he stated. “The users are going to be the winners in the end, no matter what."

This calls for immediate discussion. Wish i was a fly on the wall for this interview, Brittany!

I don't blame him for not trying to second guess what MSN plans to do. Actually, it's anyone's guess because it's hard to imagine what they could do, without going too far from what they "can" do.

In other words, Yahoo has room to do anything it wants, because people know they will. MSN however is a different kind of community. They dare not make one wrong step, otherwise they plummet off the edge into infinity (with excite, altavista, and the rest.) MSN has to uphold the image it has, which excludes being known as search. They're an ISP, but also heavy into news. So they've got a very permanent label to wear.

Yahoo on the other hand has some wiggle-room. They're not gaining on Google very closely, although they've got a far enough lead from #3 and the rest, which leaves them plenty of room to try new things, as we're seeing with the (cough) personalized search. Though I've spoke openly on my thoughts of that, I can see why they're doing it -- because they can, and it won't hurt them too much if it flops.

MSN can't afford to flop (popularity-wise) on eccentric marketing concepts, so my guess is MSN is going to play it safe for a while. A good move was developing their own algorithm, and making their own news about that. I'm curious to find out how many, but I can probably guess they attracted new users among those who stop by to see what the hubbub was about. Anytime anyone comes out with something new, it's a real marketing grabber especially when you can make a degree of noise about it across the forums and news outlets. Sure beats paying for commercials, or works nicely in conjunction with launching a new ad campaign. Even though some of us have been guilty of slamming Y a bit (and I stand by my words), even this I'm sure has helped them somewhat because now us techies want to see how bad we're sure it will be, when it comes out. (I'll eat crow if necessary) Everyone loves to have something that you love to hate.

For a website, that's not a bad position to be in. It's win-win, at least for a short-term exposure surge.

But is that enough to live on? 'Fraid not. Google is the rock solid search icon -- for good reason. Search has always been their passion first, and product 2nd. With Yahoo it's product first, and they have a passion about having products. But not a passion about contributing to the world wide web and its users. As far as search goes, Google isn't going anywhere for a long, long, time.



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I wouldn't put it past Microsoft though. I think they are trying to get in on the action asap.
They just have to make sure they don't go integrating it into their OS.

Now what was that product they were sued over - ah, yes, it's staring me right in the face.

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LOL! I couldn't put it better!
But then, that's probably bacause I'm using Opera like a sensible person...

And what was the result of all that legal action? A busload of lawyers made enough to retire on, and... And what?

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