Zapatista - 9:22 pm on Feb 25, 2003 (gmt 0)

dannysullivan and hightraffic10 hit the bullseye as well as egomaniac who said:
->"Although exciting, this is still no big deal IMO. Around 70-80% (or more) of all search activity takes place among Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Just because OV bought AV and FAST doesn't mean the public will pay attention or change their searching habits."

Yahoo buying inktomi was a big deal. Overture buying AV+Fast means nothing in traffic terms. I get more traffic from link partners than those 3 put together.

Overture said it could take 2 years to overhaul AV and the same is probably true for Fast. It could be years before these buyouts mean anything to us.

A lot of speculation here on Overture's intentions but these purchases don't change the game for me that much. Owning a search engine (or two) is one thing, marketing it for mass appeal and usage is another. Google, Yahoo, AOL, and MSN have the marketshare pretty well stitched up.