Did it ever occur to those who have posted that Seek may have spurned Netscape for potentially another suitor, that it could just as easily have been Netscape that spurned Infoseek, looking to go with the at present stronger partner, Excite?
Yes, I think that's the natural assumption, and those of us proffering the SEEK-as-spurner scenario considered the latter to be an alternative explanation.
But one school of thought holds that the Netscape deal was priceless to the winning search engine, suggesting that it went to the highest bidder, rather than the decision being made on more subjective factors such as NSCP's perception of which engine was the strongest. If that's right, then all one can say about the decision is that XCIT was willing to pay more than SEEK.
Honestly, though, I have no idea which side made the final decision -- Netscape choosing among eager bidders (the "SEEK Lost" school of thought), or the search engines gradually bowing out until there was only one left (the "NSCP Lost" school of thought). |
