No.
...
...
...
Wait... What's that? Want a little more than that for your mouse click?
OK, let's take a closer look at what Microsoft's
First off, let us scoff at the notion that this is a Google
To get back to what MSN's new search means, start by thinking of ad dollars. As Foolish paid-search fan Rick Munarriz has pointed out many times, this is a big business, with plenty of room to grow. Search-based advertising revenues have kept shareholders at Google, Findwhat.com, and Yahoo!
Still, Microsoft's trailing year sales are $38 billion. Even if it could steal away every bit of Yahoo!'s and Google's revenues over the past 12 months -- something that clearly ain't gonna happen -- that would only add another 15% to the top line. So why does Microsoft even bother trying to enter a field where it has little street cred?
Like MSN's iTunes non-threat, MSN music, the new search is just a placeholder, folks, groundwork for the revolution. Microsoft needs to stay on the scene and field a serviceable information hub in order to stay in position to capitalize on whatever's coming up.
We don't know exactly what's going to happen with tomorrow's information tech, but we do know it's going to involve the merger of all things digital: the Internet, high-definition TV, movies, music, and other media. The current crop of clunky media center PCs from Dell
For related Foolishness:
- Ford vs. Chevy. Apple'siTunes vs. MSN.
- Who's the real king of the computer biz? Check out Dell.
- Halo 2 is a major hit.
Seth Jayson thinks the pocket-protector set has a ways to go before media PCs can compete with regular home entertainment gizmos. At the time of publication, he had positions in no company mentioned. View his stock holdings and Fool profile here. Fool rules are here.