John Battelle’s Searchblog: Once Again, MSFT Says It Will Be Better, Just You Wait John Battelle blogs about a recent statement from Microsoft’s European chief, Neil Holloway, saying that Microsoft will have more relevant search than Google in six months:
From John: “This time, it’s the company’s European chief, saying MSFT will be better in the US. Huh? From the Reuters story:
Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) will introduce a search engine better than Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in six months in the United States and Britain followed by Europe, its European president said on Wednesday.
“What we’re saying is that in six months’ time we’ll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google,” said Neil Holloway, Microsoft president for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “
Notice how he used the word “relevant”? And notice how Microsoft earlier last month quietly trademarked the term Relerank: “computer software for organizing, displaying and managing search results from computer search engine software.”
Could Relerank be what Holloway is talking about? And is Relerank in any way related to Claria, the former spyware company named Gator, (who Microsoft was talking to about acquiring last summer for a reported $500 million). Claria had previously announced a new secret search technology they claimed was more relevant than Google called RelevancyRank. RelevancyRank which has yet to be publicly seen was supposed to be due out for beta last quarter.
I’ve got some people inside Microsoft checking on the Relerank trademark thing and hopefully will know more soon. Information Week has just picked up on the story as well.
Six months could be about the same time Vista is released.
Please note that this is all speculation and conjecture on my part. I’ll post back when/if I get more background on what Relerank is from folks at Microsoft.