
"Search is not a business" - volida
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2007/03/07/search-is-not-a-business-nathan-myhrvold/
======
paul
It's true -- search _wasn't_ a business. Fortunately some people were smart
enough to see that it could _become_ a business.

~~~
python_kiss
It is true, search was not a business. Back then, most startups depended on
DoubleClick banner ads for revenue generation (just as today most startups
depend on Adsense). DoubleClick was not a viable business model and Google
considered that to be their very last option.

Google was running thin on cash until they finally adopted Bill Gross'
GoTo.com advertising model (aka Overture) in 2000. So for the first 2 years,
Google was a cash cow with no business model around its search either.

------
nickb
Don't forget, Myhrvold is the man who completely missed the Internet while he
was the CTO at MS. Were it not for BillG, who realized what Internet
represented, MS would have been toast.

No wonder he got kicked out of MS and no wonder that he spends his post-MS
days playing a patent troll.

