MSN searches for leverage
Published: 06 Apr 2004 12:20 BST
Much has been made of Microsoft's rivalry with Google, and Yahoo, for that matter. What is your viewpoint on Microsoft's position in this industry and how it can improve search?
We really do not think of ourselves as rivals of Google. There is, however, some major rivalry today between Google and Yahoo. But we are certainly going to compete.
We think the sun has not set on even the first day of the search opportunity. In all our research, one out of every two people searching for something does not even get an answer. We certainly envision a world where we can answer persons' questions much, much better. I think the dream case is that we can actually answer the question directly: How many cups in a gallon? How far is it to the moon? What time does the ferry leave? What are the top 10 stocks?
How much integration will there be between the operating system and Web search, and will that be a coordinated effort when you launch?
There are a lot of different aspects to search. Some of them are local PC search; some of it is yellow pages-like search. Some of it is deep Web search going into databases that you cannot even touch today. We will slowly look at all of them. We think that we will build a best-in-class search service for doing a bunch of other things before we ever get to doing anything significant in the operating system.
How has online advertising changed since the dot-com heyday, and what do you think the dominant themes will be in the coming years?
In the past, we just put up things like banners and hoped the people would see them. We just thought that the old models applied. So much more science and expertise has come to the area now than we have ever had before.
The Internet has also become a very important part in people's lives now, both in a time-based sense and in an emotional sense. The next-generation audience -- the 12- to 21-year-olds -- they claim that the Internet is the most important media in their lives now. You now have a mainstream media phenomenon.
You have plans to introduce a music service. Will it be more like an iTunes download service or a Rhapsody subscription service?
We are going to look at all models. I think the initial model is more like an iTunes service in the sense that you can purchase songs in the form that you want -- individual tracks or in albums -- as opposed to a subscription service.
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