Google, Yahoo, MSN together got more than 80% of the Internet searches covered.
Google is way ahead of the pack. But I am betting on Yahoo and MSN closing the gap. Some time ago when Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they are launching their own search engine, we knew this was coming.
How did search, something we thought already fought and decided in the early days of Internet, turn Google, the late entrant, into the behemoth?
Still remember AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot? We wonder where they are now.
Among other things, one that Google did excellently was to open many technologies early, making available APIs and encouraging people to play around.
Open source projects are allowed to integrate various technologies with much legal mambo jumbo. Google became the friend of Open Source. We see Firefox has Google as the start page. The default search engine on the Firefix search box is Google. Many other open source projects use Google’s technology in some ways.
The open source camp is one camp that Yahoo and MSN will find hard to dislodge.
Google is an Internet-era company that gets it, using the power of people and the network to grow big.
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