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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Rose who wrote (10815)	8/4/1999 7:12:00 PM
From: Urlman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28311

eyeballs (EOM)

To: Robert Rose who wrote (10815)	8/4/1999 7:28:00 PM
From: levy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28311

I take it back I think the e commerce stuff is just a link

To: Robert Rose who wrote (10815)	8/4/1999 10:02:00 PM
From: RTev	Respond to of 28311

why is acquiring Dogpile such a great move? If nothing else, it could be seen as something similar to AOL's purchase of ICQ (which is an instant messenger that competed with AOL's own AIM). The purchase took out their major competitor (at the time) in that technology. So, I figure getting Dogpile and MetaCrawler in the same stable is similar. I means one less competitor in the search game and more eyeballs for GNET's collection of sites. Maybe their search technology really is better than what GNET already has in Metacrawler. I dunno. I know I don't like Dogpile's results-page interface nearly as much as MetaCrawler's. But beyond that, it doesn't seem too exciting to me. If it had been something like Google or even Direct Hit that provides a different kind of search technology, then I could see more room for interesting combinations. At least Dogpile isn't the meta-search service that places a banner-ad frame above a matched page. I'll admit I thought it was and haven't looked at it recently for that reason, but I suppose I'm confusing it with another such service.

To: Robert Rose who wrote (10815)	8/5/1999 12:54:00 AM
From: PatrickMark	Respond to of 28311

The 2+M additional eyeballs are certainly important. Especially considering personal preferences ... people have web habits and this brings users into the fold that would be difficult to otherwise convert (the $55M is probably a bargain on that account alone). Users that haven't formed preferences are easy to hook, but it's a much more difficult (and expensive) job to convert loyal users. But there are some more subtle areas that should be considered, as well. RH has emphasized time and time again the fundamental importance of vertical growth and integration in his overall strategy. This acquisition certainly reinforces this emphasis, as he seeks to be the hands-down leader in the search category. From a personal standpoint, I applaud the acquisition, because the search activity, for me, is one of the most primitive, unrefined and frustrating of all web activities. My time is extremely limited and I have a need to be able to find concise information quickly and efficiently. With broadband upon us, more users will have the power to make use of multi-search engines and the more multi, the better. In general, I have to plead ignorance WRT any in-depth understanding of search engine technology, but remember that Oren Etzioni is now on board. You've gotta know that no matter what the user base is for Dogpile, this in-house search technology guru is going to make a lot of noise about a search engine acquisition that doesn't have sound technology and some capabilities supplementary to MetaCrawler. The press releases alluded to (and I believe) that a big part of this decision (to acquire) was based on suitability of integration with other vertical GNET platforms, namely business hosting/services and investor services. For example (and I think Susan alluded to this earlier) imagine the ability to search multiple newswires and financial sites (from a single source) when a story breaks and you are eager to quickly get up to speed on the story. For me, the Dogpile release was a perfect example. My sister had called and left me a message that GNET had made an acquisition, but didn't know much else about it. I had to search several sources to get perspective on the deal. How great it would be to do this from one source, and what a competitive advantage for SI. I'm sure there are many applications, most beyond the scope of my imagination, but I do feel strongly that search-site development is in it's infancy and I appreciate GNET's aggressive efforts to become the leader in this field. As always, JMO. PM