Google overtakes Yahoo to become No 2 in most visited site...

2006 has been a big year for Google, according to comScore. This year’s round of acquisitions and service offerings have made Google the number two most-visited site on the Internet, knocking Yahoo down to number three, while closing in on Microsoft.

Google bought the popular video sharing site YouTube earlier this year, driving stock prices over $500, according to the BBC. The comScore report, released late last week, says that Google saw 475.7 million visitors in the month of November, pulling barely ahead of Yahoo, which garnered 475.3 million visitors. Both sites lag behind Microsoft, which commanded an audience of 501.7 million. This is the first time Google has overtaken Yahoo, according to Bloomberg.

Since Google bought YouTube, the number of visitors to that site has increased nearly 24 times to 107.9 million. YouTube ranks 10th on the comScore charts, and its visits were not included in Google’s tally.

Google’s audience grew by 9.1% while Yahoo’s only grew by 5.2%, and Microsoft’s by 3.3%. Meanwhile online auction site eBay brought up the rear in fourth place

Wikipedia Founder Plans Search Engine

The search engine, code-named Wikiasari, would combine open source technology and human intervention to deliver more relevant results than the algorithm-based systems used today.

Jimmy Wales, founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is planning to build an online commercial search engine that would compete with Google and Yahoo.

The search engine, code-named Wikiasari, would combine open source technology and human intervention to deliver more relevant results than the algorithm-based systems used today, Wales said Tuesday. "Human intelligence is still the best thing we have, so let's let humans do what they do best, and computers do what they do best." Wikiasari combines the Hawaiian word for quick, "wiki," with the Japanese word "asari," which means "rummaging search."

Relevance remains a challenge in online search, since machines can only take a roundabout approach in determining the ranking of results delivered to people's queries. For example, Google's automated system considers the number of links to a Web site in determining whether it's closer to the top or bottom of results.

Wales plans to combine the user-based technology behind nonprofit Wikipedia with open source Web-search software called Nutch, which is part of the Apache Lucene project. The latter has developed a full-featured text search engine written in Java.

Wales doesn't know how his search engine would combine human intelligence and technology. "We really haven't determined how all of this is going to work," he said.

However, Wales believes the time is right, given the availability of what he considers solid open-source technology. "The time is right, because we actually have some tools available to start building something interesting," he said.

Wikipedia depends on user contributions in building an online encyclopedia. Registered users can add any item or edit items already posted. The site works on the idea that the collective knowledge of the masses is better than a system run by editors and expert contributors. Wikipedia, however, has had its problems with erroneous postings, which are corrected as soon as site operators are notified.

Wales hopes to launch his search engine within two years. Development would be funded by his for-profit company Wikia Inc. Its investors include Bessemer Venture Partners and Amazon.com.

Wales hopes to make money with his search engine through online advertising. Text ads related to search queries and delivered with results have become a multibillion-dollar market, with Google the clear leader.

However, whether Wales can capture even a thin slice of the market against tech leaders like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, or even smaller search engines like Ask.com, remains to be seen.

Microsoft still the best..??

Well Even I have said about so many things about how Google is developing to be a biggie..But some industry analysts chuck away saying we’ll see how well Google matches with Biggies like Microsoft and Yahoo.

Their theory is not far fetched one rather they juz smoke out the facts.Google is showing attrocious growth and the stock’s value in NASDAQ is shooting up even people expect it to reach 2000$ (???) thats real Faaaaar fetched atleast for now.

One fact about Google’s income was missed by many,most of its current burgeoning account is from Google’s Adsense program or rather from the google ads you find in every nook and corner of the internet.Analysts feel that unlike Microsoft or Yahoo the regular software and web giants,Google has a long way to go.Google has been successful with Search service and all its products are also very popular juz because of the search service.But its revenues are from very much the unsung segements like ads and sponsors.Google has very few to show in terms of profits from its products. And though Google leads in search business by along way Microsoft(33% in email) and Yahoo(31% in email) are still the best No1 and 2 terms of email and chat services(yahoo 1 and MS 2) whereas Gmail accounts for juz 8%.Google is all about innovation but after sometime everyone will like to have a share of your innovation.Just the way it happened to Apple and Sony.If Google doesnt learn to play the game like Microsoft ..the bubble may break much sooner….

Google vs Bush

Well the fight is on between justice department and google,the justice department wants all the major search engines to provide the search data for every week to them.And the news is that except google everyone has accepted the proposal.Microsoft,Yahoo and others havent made any noise about this, meaning there’s no problem.The justice dept wants this data for a federal suit to prove in the court how easily porn content are available to children.

Though it might look reasonable, but in reality Google fears that the sensitive data it collects once shared will make the users afraid, simply its against its privacy policy.And once people come to know someone is watching and data is shared,people who prefer privacy will look for other options.And moreover the Fed suite for which data is needed is not a new one, everyone knows about how easily porn content is available on net,and the search majors may be asked to provide some survey results about the particular subject.Afterall the search majors are the biggest software companies and best in business. Well Bush will agree to this only if thats what their primary intention about the sensitive data. Already therPublishe is a talk about US control over internet and once US tries to take over the net we can expect more 9/11 in the cyberworld…….

Comparison of gmail,yahoo,rediff,hotmail and sancharnet

Rank 5
HOTMAIL
Microsoft looks bleak.
Well this is one of the first mail service (interface) i started using.. by then the concept wasnt so popular and hotmail was better.
But as the days went on hotmail ...didn improve.And while all other mail service providers are provided airbus for a trip hotmail is
still providing the old cart.
Advantage(s) :

* The only advantage is easy access to host of other servces like MSN messenger , passport.Net etc.

Disadvantages :

- Spam spam spam spam......everywhere, the only mails i get are spams nearly 20 everyday(no use in reporting) .
- Mailbox size..is prehistorically small.2MB??? (nwdays each fwd wud exceed 2MB).
- Dull interface.
- Removal of POP3/SMTP support.

Rank 4
SANCHARNET.IN
India Shines.
Sancharnet is the national mail service by BSNL. Its improving quite well.Its not exactly a free service.

Advantages :

*Unlimited and free POP3 access.
*Fast email access.
*Availabilty.
*Service inside the country(increase Indian traffic)

Disadvantages :

-10 MB mail space.
-No extra features(the new interface beta is good)
-Its not totally free , u need a BSNL account.
-security..is not tested.

Rank 3
REDIFFMAIL
The old man is still alive.
Thanks to the thousands of greatful old rediff users rediff is still going.But many feel it is losing the battle with yahoo in terms of commercial use of the site.

Advantages :
* 1 GB mail storage.
* Improved and simple interface.
* Reliable.
* Indian brand.

Disadvantages:
-The changed interface is slow and is not intuitive.
-No groups/other services.
-No POP access.


Rank 2
YAHOO!
Yahoo is bright again and thanks to yahoo groups.
Yahoo is fighting aggressively to keep its competers at bay.The increased Mail space and aggressive redesign and extra features help it.

Advantages :*Yahoo groups is the singlemost reason many use yahoo.
*Yahoo instant messenger increases its usage still.
*Host of other services.
*1GB mail box(is it 2 GB now?).
*New layout.
*Fast and reliable.

Disadvantages :
*No POP access.
*No radical new change in mail delivery.
*Ad based mail service.

And the winner & Rank 1
GMAIL
Google smiles...
The present 1GB space with yahoo,rediff all can b attributed to Gmail.The aggressive new concept in mail delivery, simple standalone client has redefined mail service world over. No ad whatsoever. The best of all u dont have to refresh and see ur mails.ur page automatically refreshes instantly as soon as u receive a mail.

Advantages :
* Cool Interface.
* Unbelievably fast mail delivery.
*Auto refresh on mails.(extremly useful and unique).
*Ever increasing space (today its 2245MB).
*Free POP3/SMTP access.
*reliable and secure.
*allowing . in user names.
*attachment size.
*extra features.

Disadvantages :
-Need to get a invite.
-some old systems struggle.

I may use yahoo messenger, MSN spaces ,My MSN ,Sancharnet POP acces but when it comes to email my choice would be GMAIL(atleast as long as some one beats it)
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K J Dinesh