signor_john - 12:19 am on Aug 10, 2009 (gmt 0)

It sure looks like a search company to me. By that, I mean a place where people go to *find* stuff.

Definitions of "search" may vary, but a researcher or librarian might argue that "search" refers to keyword-based, full-text search (as in a search engine), while a "directory" is a hierarchically-structured list of Web sites, businesses, street addresses, books, or whatever its editors choose to include. Directories--like search engines--may help people "find stuff," but then, so does the reference librarian at my public library, and I wouldn't equate her with Google, AltaVista, or Infoseek.

In any case, let's not lose sight of the bigger picture: Carol Bartz won't be judged by Yahoo's share of the spidered search market; she'll be judged by the numbers in Yahoo's financial reports. What's more, Wall Street analysts and investors are unlikely to lose sleep over the question of whether Yahoo was a "search company" or a "directory company" in its early years.