untangling_the_web

DID: 4046925
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Yahoo Search
In February 2004 Yahoo did what has been expected for about a year: it dropped
Google. However, what had not been correctly predicted was the new search engine
used by Yahoo in place of Google. Pretty much everyone expected Yahoo to go with
the Inktomi search engine it purchased the previous year. Instead, Yahoo
introduced a new search engine that "draws on" the technology of Inktomi and
other search engines such as AlitheWeb and AltaVista, which are owned by
Overture, a company Yahoo also acquired in 2003. After many years, Yahoo is a
legitimate search engine and not just a directory or a pale copy of Google.
Yahoo has been and remains one of the most visited and most popular websites on
the Internet. It was one of the first web portals, debuting in 1994 as a relatively
simple web guide and expanding rapidly to over 25 countries in 13 languages. Along
with Google, Yahoo is one of the most recognizable brand names on the Internet. At
the core of Yahoo was its directory of websites, a hierarchical list of sites organized
by subject. Until October 2002, that list was compiled and maintained by humans. At
that point, Yahoo switched to Google search results, thereby undermining, in my
opinion, its uniqueness and value.
Yahoo announced in mid-2006 what it claims is the "most significant redesign of the
www.yahoo.com home page ever...[because] we're also on a mission to empower
people to find information and turn it into knowledge, play, and meaningful
cornmunlcatlon.?" In my opinion, this was sorely needed. What are you going to find
on the new Yahoo homepage? A great deal of personalization choices: links to
Yahoo email and Yahoo Messenger; local weather, traffic, events; and the most
popular trends, primarily in entertainment and pop culture. The most significant
addition to search is Yahoo Answers, Yahoo's version of "ask a question."
The current Yahoo Search Technology (YST) combines the technologies of the
various Yahoo search properties-Inktomi, AlitheWeb, and AltaVista-as well as
certain Google-like features to create a very powerful search tool. Among these
features are:
~ cached versions of webpages
~ automatic conversion of non-HTML filetypes to HTML is available
48 Yahoo! Search Blog, 15 May 2006, (31
October 2006).
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