Live Search piggybacks on Java's popularity

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 08:23

Your IT - Home IT

"With the vast array of Java software-based Web applications that are downloaded every month, this deal will expose Live Search to millions more Internet users and drive increased volume for our search advertisers," added Mehdi.

Microsoft certainly needs those users. According to Compete.com, MSN/Live's share of the US search market slipped to 8.8 percent in September. That's down from 10.2 percent in August, and 11.3 percent in September 2007.

Take out traffic attributed to Microsoft's Live Search Club (a scheme that gets members to play search-driven games in return for prizes), and its share drops to 6 percent.

Google, on the other hand, has gone from 60.8 percent in September 2007 to 69.4 percent in August 2008 and 70.4 percent in September. That's an amazing 40.3 percent year-on-year growth in search volume.

JRE is downloaded tens of millions of times per month, even though it is already installed on over 90 percent of Internet-connected PCs.

"Our customers expect top-quality products when they choose to download technology from Sun, and we are confident that they will find great value in both Microsoft's MSN toolbar and Live Search," said Rich Green, Sun Microsystems' executive vice president of software.

It would be interesting if Microsoft and Sun reveal how many JRE downloaders accept the option of the MSN Toolbar, but it seems unlikely the partners would share that information unless it turns out to be a very substantial proportion.