MetropolisRobot - 2:42 pm on Feb 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

My 2c. Given Microsoft's strategy in the past I believe that MS may come out with its own service, and I mean service rather than just a search engine. With the .NET tools they could provide a very cool engine that people could plug in to in the same manner that Google and Amazon provide web services.

Microsoft has a track record of watching and waiting, and then taking an idea and doing it well. If they were to enter the arena with their own technology that somehow integrated with the desktop in a seamless manner then they would have a commanding position in the marketplace.

Overture's move seems a good one and fuelled by ppc profits they can make these acquisitions and not feel too much pain. Or at least they should be able to recoup their outgoings relatively quickly.

Basically though I do see that the FAST results will now be skewed to ppc overture results so all the time and effort we have spent on doing SEO for FAST may be undone.

In the short term then it makes Google and Teoma even more important for SEO / ranking efforts, unless you have deep pockets.