Technology, Culture, Commentary on the Internet Revolution

Microsoft Tries to Build Search Engine. Again.

by Mike Abundo on June 4th, 2007

Because MSN Search and Live Search both failed to dethrone Google — and because Ballmer just hates Schmidt so much — Microsoft is hoping third time’s the charm.

Microsoft has gathered a team of twenty or more “rock star” developers who’ve been tasked at building their next generation search engine, a source has told us. The team, which supposedly came together recently, is based at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley headquarters in Mountain View.

We have few details on their approach to the product, other than hearing that it is definitely a “horizontal” engine (so, it’s not limited to a specific vertical like images), and is “very cool.”

Microsoft moved Sanaz Ahari down to Silicon Valley to lead the project. Ahari was previously on the Live.com team, and was reportedly the youngest lead product manager in Microsoft history at 23. She was part of the core team that developed the start.com product, which was later renamed live.com.

They moved all the way down to Silicon Valley for this, eh? I guess what they say is true: hanging out at Redmond really does dull your brain.

Note that this is Microsoft’s third try at search. By contrast, Google has been built on the same basic equation since its inception. No amount of “rock star” developer makeovers can splice search into Microsoft’s corporate DNA. Microsoft should just preserve its dignity, improve its core products, diversify where it can actually innovate, and do what Yahoo did: give up on beating Google search.

Share This

POSTED IN: Microsoft, Search