Will A Merger Of Yahoo! And MSN Leave The Door Open For Wikipedia?
February 6th, 2008 by
Mark
While there is much comment and speculation about the proposed $44 billion acquisition of Yahoo! by bitter rival MSN, many are starting to ask whether the merger of these two may open up the door for Wikipedia to slip in “unnoticed†with their new user controlled search engine project. Could it really happen?
If you ask any webmaster or surfer for their views on Google, MSN and Yahoo! you will get a whole variety of answer and comments. The bottom line is that while Google are the most powerful search engine (and possibly company) on the internet, they have their critics, as do the likes of MSN and Yahoo! If we were to end up with just two major search engines on the internet there are fears that competition would be stifled to say the least, with many believing that at least three unconnected parties are required to make a “free†market. So what can Wikipedia offer?
Wikipedia are best known for their enormous online “encyclopaedia†which is monitored by and edited by the billions of users who visit the site every year. It is a site for the people, which is edited and controlled by the people. They hope to use the very same philosophy for their search engine, allowing users to vote for and suggest web sites, but with sufficient protection to ensure that there is no spamming of sites to move them up the rankings. While there are concerns about how they would ensure no corruption within the system, the idea seems to have caught the eyes of many. When will it be available?
The search engine is actually online and live now, but it is not yet “loaded†with the masses of information which are required to make it useful to webmasters and surfers. The company say that it could take anything up to a couple of years to create an information database which will give decent searchable results. However, once the site reaches critical mass and the various security / spamming issues are sorted, will it be a success?
There is no doubt that if we end up with two major search engine groups then there is space for a third, whether this is Wikipedia or another third party yet to come to the fore. It will be interesting to see how this one unravels.
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February 7th, 2008 at 4:40 am
This is a really great post, because a lot of people are considering the options that are discussed here.
Personally, I think that Google will remain the front runner for many moons to come. If the MSN-Yahoo project does come to fruition, they are going to have to do a lot of "updating" to really impact Google. Both MSN and Yahoo's search engines are limited and have a hard time rising to the level of Google.
Wikipedia, now that would be an interesting entry. Because Wikipedia is so available and open to information from its users, its information is not as trustworthy. They are going to have to do a lot to gain the trust of current Google users.
Overall, it's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. You've defined the issues very well and given me some food for thought.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:11 am
My opinion - the merger would have been good for Google. Yahoo and MSN weren't beating Google before, when merged they don't become ultra strong as one company, though both companies improve as one, that one is still just one company.
Any way you cut it the merger eliminates a competitor.
Good for Wikipedia? I think good for all the companies honestly, but not so great for regular internet users..
July 5th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
i will add this site to my favorite list because of it's great articles.
can you publish or refer about this in french language?