microsoft
SearchTogether,a new research project from Microsoft
Adaptive Systems and Interaction group at Microsoft Research Redmond have released a beta of SearchTogether,which is a free Internet plug in that allows groups of people to collaborate on Web Searches. Meredith Ringel Morris, a researcher spearheading the project conveys that SearchTogether is just a portion of a larger project about collaborative search.
As updated in one of the blogs, Microsoft’s SearchTogether is a breakthrough and different from traditional search, which is executed solo. SearchTogether gives opportunity for people at different locations to execute searches as a team.It basically enables people to divide responsibilities and pooling results in a shared Web space on the browser.
Existing search Engines enable users to find Web content on an individual basis.Search interfaces have not yet been able to support collaborative search. Collaborating on search generally means that while one person is at a keyboard,the other makes suggestions.It could also be possible that while two people,each viewing a Web browser, they would be using instant messaging or a phone.The product is expected to become very popular among schools,colleges and universities, where students would have to work on multiple projects.
Microsoft transforms its live site to a social network
Microsoft has updated its online services and has transformed its live site to a social network.The changes include photo sharing,email,instant messaging capabilities as well as including contents from around 50 companies.The Web Services include Flickr,LinkedIn Corp,Twitter,Wordpress.org etc., through profiles and a news feed.The Web 2.0 industry observers have received several positive reviews regarding these updates.
Live.com users can now access several online services like mail, calendar, photos, online storage,etc.,including downloaded services like a mail client, instant messaging,Movie Maker,Photo Gallery,the Toolbar and other services. Eventually,this has become one huge social network.Check out http://www.windowslive.com/ for more.
Microsoft CEO rules out option to buyout Yahoo
Microsoft Corporation Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said that his company has no plans to make another bid to buyout yahoo.
“We made an offer, we made another offer, and it was clear that Yahoo didn’t want to sell the business to us and we moved on .We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition. I don’t know why they would be either, frankly. They turned us down at 33 dollars a share, said Ballmer as published in a blog.
On the contrary,Yahoo Chief Executive, Jerry Yang said that Yahoo would welcome Microsoft if it was ever willing to offer another bid with the former.Yahoo made these remarks after Google stayed out of the ad deal with Yahoo after the Justice Department notified the two companies of an antitrust suit.
Microsoft work with Google for HP search deal
Google search expansion lead over Yahoo; Microsoft, AOL, Ask.com decline
Yahoo, on the other hand, aimed an affirmable proxy war and of a takeover bid by Microsoft early this period, saw its percentage status 0.9 percent, from 21.3 percent to 20.4 percent of searches. Shadowing Yahoo were Microsoft Firm’s sites, downward to 9.1 value of searches in April from 9.4 percent in March, AOL LLC, behind to 4.6 percent from 4.8 percent; and Oakland-based Ask.com, down to 4.3 percent of searches from 4.7 proportion in March.
Searches beyond the nucleus field, much as map searches and searches for user-generated/friendly videos, were not comprised in the figures. The rankings further stated that Americans incorporated 10.6 billion searches on the main search engines, a 2 percent turn from March. More than 6.5 billions set searches were also conducted on Google, subsequent by 2.2 billion on Yahoo sites and 961 million on Microsoft sites. AOL saw 491 million searches, and Ask.com saw 458 million, according to comScore.
Microsoft Still has an Eye on Yahoo
“Yet, we are trying to have discussions about deals with Yahoo that might create value, but not a whole acquisition of the company,” he said without elaborating further. Earlier this month, Microsoft moved away from the offer to obtain Yahoo for $47.5 billion (24.16 billion pounds), or $33 per share, after Yahoo rejected the offer, saying it would only resolve for $37 a share.
Microsoft is now planning to make an alternative offer, proposing to purchase Yahoo’s search business and take a marginal stake in the Web firm, a person well-known with the discussions told Reuters this week.
Microsoft might look for alternate deal
Microsoft Corp might now look for a mixture of deals after moving away from Yahoo Inc, but some would be complete enough to let it confront Google Inc’s power of online advertising. When Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer called off talks with Yahoo on Saturday soon after the Web Company discarded his $47.5 billion offer, he gave up what he and his investors saw as the best method to grow rapidly in marketing and online services to take on market head Google.
Microsoft/Yahoo cut-off date passes with No Pact
Yahoo failed to agree to an acquirement pact with Microsoft last Saturday, the deadline Microsoft had set for taking up such negotiations. Now Microsoft should decide whether to follow a hostile conquest via a proxy fight or to drop the bid and look for other acquirement alternatives.
Yahoo Japan Make Use of Microsoft Silverlight technology
Microsoft Silverlight technology is a very new competitor to Adobe Flash which allows better interactivity on websites. Madison Square Garden Interactive, Tencent, Abertis Telecom, Terra Networks Operations, SBSi, and MNet are some of the other companies that are making use of Silverlight extensively.
Google wins in Yahoo-Microsoft battle
“We find this to be a very advantageous situation for Google,” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Derek Brown said Thursday. “The longer this gets dragged out, the better for Google.” Yahoo indicated it is stimulating for a long-drawn-out battle late Wednesday when a statement and a media leak offered a sight at its convoluted search for alternatives to Microsoft’s bid of more than $40 billion. “The more complicated a deal gets, the more difficult it becomes to satisfy all parties,” Brown said. “And the more complicated the (post-deal) integration gets, the more it favors Google.”