Gadgetopia

MSN Search — MSNBOT: This is new.

MSNBOT is a prototype Web crawler robot developed by MSN Search…

More good information over at Scripting News:

They [MSN] currently outsource all their searches to Inktomi and LookSmart, with ads embedded through a partnership with Overture. Now that Inktomi is owned by Yahoo (the #2 search engine), they feel it’s in their best interests to build their own infrastructure.

There is no market Microsoft isn’t determined to own. The bit about the offer to buy Google is scary.

Scarier still is the hit Inktomi is going to take over it. They were still reeling from losing the AOL account. With MSN gone, they’re in trouble, which is sad because they make a great product. I developed with Inktomi Enterprise Search (looks like the name has changed) at my last job, and it’s all that and a bag of chips.

More at Microsoft Watch:

…Microsoft has made no bones about the fact that it wants to ‘out-google Google’ — both with its next-generation MSN Search engine, as well as with new search technology that it is building into Longhorn Windows client and other future Microsoft product releases. … Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, MSN Personal Services and Business, recently told attendees of the Goldman Sachs Internet conference that Microsoft is focusing more on the algorithmic part of search than on paid placements.