Dec 4th 2006 Bad News Sells…

Google itself has recently been making forays into vertical search functionality, with Google Coop, OneBox and custom search engines. (The mainframes are fighting back!). Vertical search leaders aren’t fazed by these changes, though!

Couple of points.

One - in any vertical category if you are familiar with the domain it’s going to be interesting, if not the ‘ho hum’ neuron is going to kick in.

Two - the hidden bigger point here is Nutch, the open source search engine. This is looking like it will be the Linux of search - making the power to create search engines available to a much wider audience of developers.

Just when it seemed the options were between one mainframe and the other along came the mini’s, then the desktop machines. The pendulum has continued to swing between the two architectural ends.

To me Google, Yahoo, MSN are the mainframes of search. The desktop of search is something like Spotlight (on the Mac). So what’s the mini of search? My gut feeling is Nutch will be powering a whole family of vertical search engines.

Moreover, Doug Cutting, the creator of Nutch, is employed by Yahoo who is reputed to be dedicating serious resources to Nutch. Read between the lines …

You heard it here first ;-)

Myself, I’m not a developer, but I am in the software industry. (Okay, I admit it, I’m a marketer!) I think Krugle sounds like it’s really onto something. I’m sending this post to the developers I work with.

[In the name of transparency, another admission: I know Krugle people and like 'em. I think they're a very smart bunch, and they're working really hard to change the world.]

Net-net, I think if the architect of GigaOM likes Krugle, people should pay attention…