4428 For me, the search engine wars were over years ago and Google won. I can't recall the last time I used a Web search engine other than Google for general Web searching, but I use Google dozens of times every day. I should qualify that. I do still like Yahoo's Finance site, and I regularly visit their rolling list of Apple-Mac-related press releases, but that's about it.

Apparently, an awful lot of Web-users agree with me about Google, which reportedly enjoys a 66% share of the global web search market, as opposed to second and third-place Yahoo and Microsoft which trail distantly with just 13% and 4% of the market respectively.

I expect that the reasons for Google's overwhelming popularity are commonly perceived as well, including:

• Speed:
Google is satisfyingly fast, even on dial-up connections, which are still the only option for many Internet users worldwide, including this writer.

• Lack of Interface Clutter:
Google's refreshingly clean and minimalist search pages don't bombard you with superfluous ad content and graphics, all of which of course slow the competition down.

• Comprehensiveness:
I much prefer Google's "everything including the kitchen sink" mode as opposed to Yahoo!'s selective, nuanced approach. I like to make my own decisions about what is or os not relevant, and Google's speed facilitates reviewing a lot of information quickly.

• Superior Free Email:
Google's Gmail service is vastly better than either Yahoo! Mail or Microsoft's Hotmail. Not only does Gmail's Webmail user interface (again clean and fast) mop the floor with Yahoo! Mail's and Hotmail's slow, cluttered pages, but gilds the lily by also offering POP3 email support for free while retaining full Webmail functionality.

Consequently, I'm skeptical that should Microsoft be successful with its hostile takeover of Yahoo!, that the combination will fare much better against Google together than they have done separately.

However, what if Apple bought Yahoo! instead of Microsoft?

In a report on Saturday, The Scotsman's Nathalie Thomas noted that both Apple and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp are believed to be considering rival bids for Yahoo. Ms. Thomas says that "Yahoo chief executive and co-founder Jerry Yang is understood not to be Microsoft's greatest fan," and "it is believed he would be particularly open to a rescue bid from Steve Jobs' Apple Corp, having openly expressed his admiration for the firm in the past. Yang last year invited Jobs to Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnyvale to give a motivational talk to staff....."

So, would Apple be able to turn Yahoo! around and gain ground on Google? It's an intriguing line of speculation given Apple's mixed track record with online services. The iTunes Store is of course a rip-roaring success story, but .Mac has been a major disappointment, and in my estimation has been an extremely poor value for what it costs, from the get-go. Apple's termination of its free mac.com email service also still rankles. Frankly, I'm inclined to trust Google more than I trust Apple, at least until they give me reason not to, and so far they haven't.

That said, I would much prefer to see Apple (or for that matter News Corp) get Google than for it to be annexed by the Redmond Borg, and I would be willing to give Apple-hoo! a chance to prove itself.

This will be an interesting one to watch.

Charles W. Moore

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