Malik’s Microsoft Memos: Another OMinous Insight
May 20, 2008
A happy quack to GigaOM, Om Malik’s useful Web log. The story is ‘Yet Another Microsoft Memo.’
The head of search, Satya Nadella, announces YARIS or yet another reorganization in search. GigaOM provides the list of executives involved in this deck shuffle.
Mr. Nadella’s assertions about what Microsoft has to do to close the Grand Canyon sized gap with Google gave me pause. The to do list includes:
- Invest in MSN (paraphrase)
- Build expertise in media and technology (paraphrase)
- “Create an organization that wherever possible helped drive global and cross network capability while always enabling and empowering the local aspects of our media business (direct quote)
These three points strike me as very important. I think the Live.com brand is for the moment taking a back seat to Live.com. I’ve been confused about MSN-Live-Hotmail for months.
The notion of adding people and knowledge seems okay on the surface. But
Microsoft has quite a few bright people based on my limited exposure to
the company. With more than 80,000 employees, hiring more may not
pay immediate dividends particularly when the competitor is moving along
at a quick pace.
The notion of local media evokes Craigslist.org to me, not ads for the
auto mechanic in Harrod’s Creek, Kentucky.
To be truthful, I can’t figure out Mirosoft’s new direction, if I understand Mr. Nadella’s writing.
But the point that confuses me is this, and I quote:
Lastly it’s imperative that we set up for blurring the lines between Portal and Search to drive experiences that enable more seamless exploration of content across the search continuum. We want the combined expertise of the team to drive this innovation and also create more scale with vertical efforts.
The thoughts nagging me concern the Web indexing and Web search
capabilities of Fast Searh & Transfer. Microsoft paid $1.2 billion
for a company now spidering and indexing the Web for Yahoo. This is Fast Search
& Transfer, and I think it does a better job of search than ‘regular’
Yahoo search. Furthermore, Fast Search & Transfer is headed by a
technical wizard who knows how to scale Web search. Dr. John Lervik,
prior to refocusing fast on enterprise search, was giving Google a
run for its money.
Mr. Nardella, if I understand what he’s saying, wants to work across
‘the search spectrum’. His team, which doesn’t seem to include
the Fast Search experts, will create ‘more scale with vertical
efforts’. Frankly I don’t know what this means. ‘Scale’ is required
to index the Web and delivery the services built on top of search.
Without scale, there’s little chance of catching Google. My research
has revealed that ‘vertical search’ is one of those buzzwords that
people use without defining.
‘Vertical search’ is little more than a subset of content organized
around a topics or function. So far, vertical search has not been able
to generate the revenue needed to make it the game saver some want it
to be. Check out the financial performance of Convera, a search firm
that focuses on vertical search.
Bottomline: I can’t mesh this Microsoft memorandum with the
current buzz about a deal for Yahoo’s search business. Instead of
clarifying the search strategy at Mircrosoft, the reorganization and
the lingo in Mr. Nardella’s memo communicate fuzziness to me.
I don’t think Google will be shaking with fear after perusing
this document. A happy quack to GigaOM.com.
Stephen Arnold, May 20, 2008
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