And, in these past years, Google has demonstrated a remarkable potential. Their search engine is by far the best — and now they’re offering all sorts of other services, many of which I use (ie Picasa, Google Desktop, Gmail, Google Toolbar, Google Talk, Google Scholar, etc) and some of which I’m contemplating using (personalized Google search, Google Earth, Blogger, etc) not to mention the unbelievable rise of their stock (600 or bust?).
And, right when the days when I considered Yahoo to be impressive were long over (although I have to admit their marketing push into portals and into media – ie Launch – was particularly brilliant), I hear that they’re offering much improved mail service to rival Gmail. They’re enhancing their own Yahoo Messenger product — then they announce a series of very powerful moves — the acquisition of Flickr (the world’s largest photo-sharing network), the acquisition of Konfabulator (to produce desktop Widgets), and the acquisition of del.icio.us (or however you spell it) a public set of bookmarks (something which looks REALLY cool on paper b/c not only can you store your bookmarks online, but if you’re looking for stuff, what better place to find it then in other people’s bookmarks!)…
So, I decide to take a look at Yahoo again — and much to my surprise, they’re definitely worth looking at again. This isn’t an endorsement of Yahoo’s stock per se (I’ll note here that I think Google’s stock is WAY too expensive — people are just afraid to short — like I would be in this case lol), but what I found was rather impressive:
Yahoo 360 – Taking blogging to the next level, by not only linking you to Yahoo’s portal, but also providing a means of sharing pictures, posting lists, reviewing films, posting a personal Launch-cast radio station, blogging, etc
Ask Yahoo! – Something that even Google offers links to on its own personalized page, basically readers pose questions which are then answered by Yahoo staff (I assume) who find the answer on Yahoo’s own search portal.. very cool!
Yahoo Desktop Search – More or less a Google Desktop Search clone, it has some cool features — mainly (to me) a more usable system as it doesn’t depend on a web browser
Yahoo Maps – No longer as lame as MapQuest’s, it now uses a similar engine and interface as Google’s, but it ALSO employs a real-time traffic monitoring system (something Anuraag and I had tried to base as the concept for a startup— *sigh* the best laid plans of mice and men…), and I think its actually rendered better
Yahoo Audio Search – Google has tried (and in my opinion hasn’t succeeded very well) in dominating video search… it looks like Yahoo wants to try its hand at audio — I haven’t actually tried it so I don’t know if its good..
Go Yahoo – A clone of Google Desktop Search 2′s sidebar functionality… it promises the same sort of features except with more of an emphasis on Yahoo’s services. I still think Google’s is better, but, you never know what will happen next… it was demo-ed at the CES fair, but the features which are supposed to be beyond Google’s (mainly the multimedia functionality) had technical problems there … looks troublesome (and like some people at Yahoo are getting their asses fired…)
Yahoo Research – Probably taking a cue from Google’s hyper-forward looking environment, Yahoo has started a facility dedicated specifically to researching computer science and economic models and algorithms — if I were in the right field and I didn’t get into Google, there is no doubt I would want to work here — its the same sort of atmosphere — probably in the hopes that it’ll lead to the next innovation on Yahoo’s side instead of Google’s.
Yahoo! Open – Probably another cue from Google who’s search bar can do a LOT more than search, Yahoo has began experimenting with allowing the user to create custom “macros” for lack of a better word to initiate specific commands and activities making their search bar more useful
Who says capitalism doesn’t work? It’s certainly led two of the largest internet giants to go head to head — and in this case, the consumer/user is the one who wins out the most. What’s not to like?