Product Strategy of Microsoft, Yahoo, and FAST - BUT war declared on Google

By the time you read this blog post the announcement that Microsoft has put in a $44b bid for yahoo will be yesterday’s news. But have you taken a minute to think what this takeover means for the Group Product managers of MSN and Microsoft, the Product Strategist at Yahoo. It goes with out saying that... this bid is either a strategic step aimed to ensure that Microsoft has a long term future in the internet world and the ability to deliver world class search technology as part of their product offering. In the first half of January Microsoft decide to purchase FAST the search technology. Bill on Business comments that:

Microsoft has laid its cards on the table early in 2008 with its $1.2 billion cash acquisition of the Norwegian enterprise search player FAST. What does this say about Microsoft's intentions, and what implications might be in store for the content community?

One can imagine that the Product Strategist have put the integration of FAST on Sharepoint’s product roadmap as part of its search knowledge management product offering. Couple that with the what Microsoft will get when they acquire Yahoo and I believe we have an outright declaration of digital-war on google. ChannelWeb Network reports that:

With out a shadow of a doubt these are exciting times for those in the digital arena – such competition can only spark aggressive innovation for dominance and market share. Given the choice which camp would you like to be product manger in: Yahoo, Microsoft or Google?

With dominance over the IT industry and Internet at
stake, top executives at Google and Microsoft have been at each other's throats over the past several years. Google has attempted to take on Microsoft's dominance in productivity software by launching Google Docs; Microsoft, in turn, is developing Office Live Workspace and its own search, mapping and online advertising businesses. The proposal to take over Yahoo is its boldest move to date against Google.