The FT has the scoop. Deal based on X1 (Bill Gross’s well-received PC search software – man, Overture, Picasa, Snap, now this…)
More in the morning. From the FT, which I think (inadvertently, I am sure) broke an embargo to publish this (I have seen a demo and was planning on posting late tonight or in the morning):
Jeff Weiner, head of search at Yahoo, described the desktop software as “the next natural evolution of search”.
But he also cast the software as part of a broader strategy that would let users tap into Yahoo’s wider array of internet services. The first test version of the software would be available over the web early in the new year, he added.
Like Google’s desktop tool, the Yahoo product will initially make it easier to find email and files stored on the hard drive of a PC. The internet company then plans to extend the software to draw in other personal information stored on servers over the web, said Mr Weiner.
(By the way, I’m told that Ask will launch its desktop search product next week, Dec. 15th, to be exact.)