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Microsoft Yanking Yahoo And Scaling Up
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Microsoft has quietly begun dropping the Yahoo-powered search engine
and index at MSN.com in favor of its still-in-beta homegrown MSN
Search tool for a large number of users.
Starting earlier this week, users of various search industry message
forums, including the ones at SearchEngineWatch.com, reported that
they were seeing results drawn from Microsoft's own technology when
using the MSN Search site or the search box at the top of MSN.com,
Microsoft's primary consumer portal. By Friday, virtually all the
posters claimed that they were directed to the beta of MSN Search
when using either the direct URL or MSN.com. (Additional independent
tests revealed the same experience Friday.)
For a while, however, it was unclear whether Microsoft had actually
thrown the switch and dumped Yahoo altogether, or if it was only
more of the same testing that Microsoft announced on Jan. 8.
"From time to time we also route some of the customers from
our live search service at search.msn.com through the Beta web site
in order to do scalability testing," wrote Oshoma Momoh, the
general manager of MSN's search program in a blog then. "You'll
continue to see us doing this on occasion for the foreseeable future."
Danny Sullivan, the U.K.-based search expert who maintains SearchEngineWatch.com,
had these questions Friday. "So what's the deal? Is the beta
gone? [Or] am I just one of the increasing number of those being
shown the beta as MSN has promised would happen this month?"
he asked on the site.
Microsoft's response to questions drew this statement from Justin
Osmer, MSN product manager.
"Some may notice that we have been recently scaling up and
scaling down the MSN Search beta service. This continues to be part
of our testing process as we near the final version and incorporate
user's feedback. Until we fully launch the site, you may expect
to see various changes occurring. We will be sure to alert you to
the final once it's available."
A Microsoft spokesman would not commit to a going-final date, and
only repeated the company's aim to have something wrapped up "early
this year."
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