Internet Marketing and Social Media Consultants

One thing that would really take the Internet to the next level, especially for students, is if millions of books were available to be searched and viewed online. While Google is going ahead with Google Book Search, it was thought that some competition from Microsoft would be good for the race.

However, Microsoft has announced they are shutting down Live Search Books and Live Search Academic because the services aren’t profitable enough. This is the Microsoft now pays you to use their search engine

Given the evolution of the Web and our strategy, we believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer, and content partner. For example, this past Wednesday we announced our strategy to focus on verticals with high commercial intent, such as travel, and offer users cash back on their purchases from our advertisers.

Perhaps since Google is in a position of strength when it comes to search, they can spend time working on the less profitable but more useful elements of search that will help them maintain their base. Microsoft, at this point, needs to find some kind of miracle to challenge Google. As it is, Google is doing the right thing by devoting some portion of their time to broadening the usefulness of their search engine instead of merely looking for ways to monetize it. The money is coming and will come, especially if you have the best service. Microsoft is resorting to gimmickry, and it has the whiff of desperation to it.

So it is unfortunate that Microsoft is shutting down book search, but hopefully Google will continue to digitize more and more content. Perhaps Steve Ballmer should take a look at Google Book Search’s The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

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