Microsoft will never hit it big in the search engine market. They're way too late, and plus, "Google" has already made it into the dictionary as a verb. Nearly everyone uses it. They won't be able to monopolize this industry just by setting Windows Live as the default search provider, either. People are smart now. They know how to get to Google.
I worked for C|Net from 1997-1999. At the time, Google was famous for its search engine, and not
www.google.com, it didn't exist as it does today. They were famous for writing the best search engine, and this search engine
was used by other sites. I think Yahoo even, at one point, used Google's search engine.
When they launched their own consumer site, I scoffed. Everybody already knows Yahoo, after all. When they went public, I also scoffed, as they missed the initial IPO waves of the internet boom and were pretty late to go public.
Yeah, my predictions worked out well.
Moral: Things can change overnight. There was a time when Yahoo ruled the roost and Google was a big underdog late to the party. But they won because their results were better and the site design, then as now, was simple and easy to read. Need another example? How about Netscape? They were the poster child for the internet boom.
MSN was launched at the same time as Windows 95, intended to be a built-in equivalent to AOL. I remember the "Chicago" betas with MSN service didn't even have a browser yet, you navigated MSN through a folder metaphor like Finder or Explorer. By the time Windows 95 was ready for launch, the revolution happened and they had to come up with the first Internet Explorer and redo MSN from scratch. I think it's been redone several times since then.
Microsoft correctly perceives Google as a threat. It also sees how Google is making money, but turning MSN Live Search into a winner is hard. Just flat out buying Yahoo helps them consolidate the #2 spot. And IMO Yahoo is doing a slow fade anyway.
