The search engines are busily scooping up other companies, hoping to win the search engine war that has ignited amongst the big three (Google, Yahoo, MSN). The rate of acquisitions is at a frantic pace, as each tries to outdo the other, trying to woo users away from the competitors. Here is the latest round results:
Google bought Picasa, a digital camera photo management software. Picasa was used with Google's Blogger, and is now being offered as a free download with a link right on Google's homepage. Imagine the PR that will be passed to the Picasa download page now! Whew! This acquisition is supposedly to help Google in its quest to manage all information.
Microsoft bought Lookout Software, which specializes in email and desktop search. This is perfectly in line with Microsoft's goal to tie all things search into its upcoming new OS.
Yahoo acquired Oddpost.com. Oddpost provides Web-based e-mail, photo sharing, and news feed aggregation. The application functions like a desktop application, allowing drag and drop management, just like a desktop email application, without the need to refresh a web page.
By this time next year, the face of the search engine war should be more clearly defined, and it will be interesting to see who bested who. The fight rages on...