history of altavista,excite,google,hotbot,go,lycos,yahoo

ALTAVISTA:

May 2000. AltaVista launched a new "high-end" search engine called 'Raging Search' utilising the same technology and web index as AltaVista's primary engine. It will rely on selling links to businesses rather than banner advertisements.
February 2000. Introduced new multimedia features, with separate search centers for MP3/audio, images and video search, giving access to an index of over 30 million documents, including over 1 million MP3 files.
End-1999. AltaVista replaced by Inktomi in powering MSN Search. AltaVista had taken over from Inktomi in this same role earlier in 1999. MSN Search stills displays a link to AltaVista search at the bottom of its results' pages.
October 1999. Launched AltaVista Shopping.com.Switched to Open Directory and dropped LookApril 1999. Implemented its own version of the Open Directory.
February 1999. Began serving results directly from Direct Hit. Previously, Direct Hit results were offered as an option. Direct Hit ranks pages by the number of users who follow links to those pages.
January 1999. Truncation now available.
November 1998. Launched free e-mail and homepage services in partnership with Lycos’ WhoWhere division.
October. 1998. Agreement by Lycos to purchase Wired Digital (owner of HotBot).
September 1998. Agreement with Netscape to be one of its ‘Distinguished ‘ providers.
September 1998. Personal Page Limit, truncation and language limit introduced.
August 1998. Partnership with ‘Direct Hit’.
May 1998. Redesigned interface, introducing branded version of LookSmart, and placing directory access to the right of the main search options.
May 1996. HotBot launched by Wired Ventures.
October 1992. Wired Ventures founded.smart directory.Agreement with RemarQ to provide Usenet search results, replacing its own Usenet directory. Introduced results from its branded version of Ask Jeeves (database of over 7 million questions ) into its results display. Also introduced Photo search and a filtering option.
October 25, 1999. Launch of redesigned site, incorporating new logo and site features including:- new directory information source (Open Directory); news database; results clustering; new relevancy ranking algorithm; company fact sheets where available.
July 1999. Majority share (82%) in AltaVista purchased by Internet investment company, CMGI, INC. for $2.3b in stock. Compaq retains an 18% share.Introduced My AltaVista personalization feature, and AltaVista Finance, which offers stock quotes and information, market information, news from CBS MarketWatch, Reuters, PR Newswire, etc.Dropped its paid-for Relevant Paid Placement option. Dropped its Refine feature.
15 April 1999. Announced addition of AltaVista Relevant Paid Placement - returns two paid placements above search index results which are marked as Paid Placements. Keywords are auctioned every two weeks.
March 1999. German version of site launched. Based in Munich.
February 1999. Purchased Zip2.Corp for $200m. Also took a 10% stake in online video and image search company Virage, Inc. Integrated Virage's search tools into AltaVista for video and image searching. AltaVista set up as a separate, publicly traded company.Partnership with MSN replacing Inktomi as MSN's search service. To begin powering MSN in the third quarter of 1999.
October 1998. Natural language searching introduced.Branded version of the Ask Jeeves answer service (Ask AltaVista) introduced and accessed via the heading 'AltaVista knows the answers to these questions'. Ask Jeeves editorial team have prepared some 7 million questions which link to sites providing the answers.Also introduced photo search service, and Family Filter option. Announced that Microsoft's Hotmail was to take over from iName as AltaVista's free e-mail service.
Autumn 1998. Automatic phrase searching introduced. Is based on a collection of several million phrases.AltaVista Discovery replaced AltaVista Personal Search.
June 1998. Digital acquired by Compaq in a process which began in January, thereby also acquiring AltaVista search engine. Total cost estimated to be nearly $9m.
June 1998. Content channels introduced in, coinciding with redesigned interface.
Formed an alliance early in 1998 with Looksmart Directory service (founded October 1996 and listing over 400,000 sites categorized into over 16,000 subjects) - co-branded version of LookSmart directory called AltaVista Categories accessed via Explore by Subject (launched January 1998).
December 1997. People Search and Business Search launched.
December 1st, 1997. First mirror site (www.altavista.telia.com) launched.
July 1997. Search by Language introduced.
June 1996. Partnered with Yahoo!. Link severed July 1998 (will continue to be listed at the bottom of Yahoo!’s results’ pages).
Site made public December 15th, 1995.
AltaVista harvesting software 'Scooter' first 'crawled' on July 4th, 1995.
Project started Spring 1995 by Louis Monier

EXCITE:

November 1999. Added LookSmart content (with over 1.2m records) to its directory.
August 1999. Announced new search engine to create 250m page index. Introduced LookSmart-powered directory listings.
June 1999. Partnership to produce Netscape Netcenter ending.
May 1999. Merger with @Home Network completed. New company - Excite@Home.
January 1999. Announcement of merger with @Home Network, a cable TV company, in a $6.7b stock swap.
August 1998. New communities service saw bets launch. Made available to all web users in September.
Summer 1998. Reorganized results page.
October 1997. Added new ‘Business and Investing Channel’ in conjunction with Intuit (channel also available from within Quicken website and WebCrawler).
November 1996. Acquired WebCrawler.
July 1996. Purchased Magellan.
March 1996. Acquired new look with the introduction of Excite 2.0. Version 3.0 appeared in 1997.
October 1995. Excite search service launched.
1994. Excite Inc. founded.
Late-1993. Originally called Architext, developed by five Stanford university graduates (the second engine so developed by Stanford students).

GOOGLE:

Early history
Google began as a research project in January 1996 by Larry Page, a Ph.D. student at Stanford.[1] Larry was soon joined in his research project by Sergey Brin a fellow Stanford Ph.D. student and close friend. Larry Page hypothesized that a search engine that analyzed the relationships between websites would produce better results than existing techniques (existing search engines at the time essentially ranked results according to how many times the search term appeared on a page).[2] It was originally nicknamed, "BackRub", because the system checked backlinks to estimate a site's importance.[3] A small search engine called RankDex was already exploring a similar strategy.[4]
Convinced that the pages with the most links to them from other highly relevant Web pages must be the most relevant pages associated with the search, Page and Brin tested their thesis as part of their studies, and laid the foundation for their search engine. Originally the search engine used the Stanford website with the domain google.stanford.edu. The name Google is a play on the term googol, which is the large number 10100. The domain google.com was registered on September 15, 1997. They formally incorporated their company, Google Inc., on September 7, 1998 at a friend's garage in Menlo Park, California.
In March 1999, the company moved into offices at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto, home to a number of other noted Silicon Valley technology startups. Google received a big break in 1999 when one of the most popular search engines, AltaVista, relaunched itself as a user web entry point, or portal. This unexpected change alienated part of AltaVista's user base. Google quickly outgrew its University Avenue home. The company settled into a complex of buildings, called the Googleplex in Mountain View in 1999. Silicon Graphics leased these buildings to Google.
The Google search engine attracted a loyal following among the growing number of Internet users. They were attracted to its simple, uncluttered, clean design — a competitive advantage to attract users who did not wish to enter searches on web pages filled with visual distractions. This appearance, while imitating the early AltaVista, had behind it Google's unique search capabilities. In 2000, Google began selling advertisements associated with the search keyword to produce enhanced search results for the user. This strategy was important for increasing advertising revenue, which is based upon the number of "hits" users make upon ads. The ads were text-based in order to maintain an uncluttered page design and to maximize page loading speed. It also only cost a very small amount per click to the websites that advertised this way. This model of selling keyword advertising was originally pioneered by Goto.com (later renamed Overture, then Yahoo! Search Marketing).[5] While many of its dot-com rivals failed in the new Internet marketplace, Google quietly rose in stature while generating revenue.
U.S. Patent 6,285,999 describing Google's ranking mechanism (PageRank) was granted on September 4, 2001. The patent was officially assigned to Stanford University and lists Lawrence Page as the inventor.
Google's declared code of conduct is, "Don't Be Evil", a phrase which they went so far as to include in their prospectus (aka "red herring" or "S-1") for their IPO, noting, "We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served — as shareholders and in all other ways — by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."
The Google site often includes humorous features such as cartoon modifications of the Google logo to recognize special occasions and anniversaries.[6] Known as "Google Doodles", most have been drawn by Google's international webmaster, Dennis Hwang.[7] Not only may decorative drawings be attached to the logo, but the font design may also mimic a fictional or humorous language such as Star Trek Klingon and Leet.[8] The logo is also notorious among web users for April Fool's Day tie-ins and jokes about the company.

HOTBOT:

April 1999. Implemented its own version of the Open Directory.
February 1999. Began serving results directly from Direct Hit. Previously, Direct Hit results were offered as an option. Direct Hit ranks pages by the number of users who follow links to those pages.
January 1999. Truncation now available.
November 1998. Launched free e-mail and homepage services in partnership with Lycos’ WhoWhere division.
October. 1998. Agreement by Lycos to purchase Wired Digital (owner of HotBot).
September 1998. Agreement with Netscape to be one of its ‘Distinguished ‘ providers.
September 1998. Personal Page Limit, truncation and language limit introduced.
August 1998. Partnership with ‘Direct Hit’.
May 1998. Redesigned interface, introducing branded version of LookSmart, and placing directory access to the right of the main search options.
May 1996. HotBot launched by Wired Ventures.
October 1992. Wired Ventures founded.

GO:

The origins of Go are shrouded in the mists of ancient Asian history, but the game is thought to have originated, at least 4,000 - 5,000 years ago.
Some say that the board, with ten points out from the center in all directions, may have originally served as a forerunner to the abacus. Others think it may have been a fortune-telling device, with black and white stones representing yin and yang. A famous legend holds that an emperor created the game to improve the intelligence of his dull-witted son.
By the time of Confucius (around 600 B.C.), wei-chi (a Chinese name for the game)) had already become one of the "Four Accomplishments" (along with brush painting, poetry and music) that must be mastered by the Chinese gentleman.
Wei-chi entered Korean and Japanese culture through trade and other contact between countries in the first millennium A.D. In ancient Chinese art, noblemen (and noblewomen!) can occasionally be found playing Go (wei-ch'i or weiqi in Chinese
Go in America
The earliest Go players in North America were probably Chinese workers toiling on the transcontinental railroad in the mid-1800s, but if so the game did not attract notice outside the Chinese-American community.
Go first came to the attention of Westerners in the early 1900s when a group of German mathematicians and game players stumbled upon it, including Otto Korschelt and Edward Lasker, a cousin of the legendary chess player Emanuel Lasker and himself a well-known master. With Lee Hartmann (editor of Harper's magazine) and a few others, Lasker formed the American Go Association in New York in 1937.
Today, with about 2000 members, the American Go Association remains a small, tight-knit national community that generally greets a new player as a long-lost member of the family. With over 100 chapters, we may have one near you. If not, write or e-mail for help on how to start your own club! If you'd like to join the AGA, send us an application today.


LYCOS:

January 2000. Lycos Pro began displaying web search results from the FAST database.
November 1999. Launched a new multimedia search in partnership with FAST , an Internet search technology provider. Also launched a co-branded (with Slate.com) news site. Searches on Lycos site will lead to the new sites content.
September 1999. Signed agreement to acquire Quote.com investment information site for c.$78 million. Deal to be finalized by the end of the year.Announced the Lycos 50tm, which indicates what searchers are looking for on the web. Lists the 50 most popular search terms, emerging trends and topics.Launched 'Lycos Zone', an educational web site for kids aged 3 to 12. Includes free access to the Lycos SearchGuard filtering technology.Released search tool 'Lycos SeeMore', a free download allowing you to activate a search on a word on a web page by right-clicking on it. Supported by IE4 or later.
June 1999. Launched its 'Invisible' web service, a joint project with Intelliseek to provide directory of over 7400 databases, many not previously available on the web.
April 1999. Announced it was joining the 'Open Directory Project' which is run by Netscape and includes sites reviewed by users on a voluntary basis.
March 1999. Agreement to create search tool for USATODAY.com news site to search current and archival information at its site.
February 1999. Announced acquisition by USA Networks for $18 billion giving them a 61.5% share in Lycos. To become known as USA/Lycos Interactive Networks.
Acquired Wired Digital (owner of HotBot) for $83 million in stock towards the end of 1998.
August 1998. Acquired WhoWhere Inc. and its directory services, plus Mail City e-mail service for $133 million in stock.
Summer 1998. Language search introduced. Also Redesigned search results page.
April 1998. Acquired WiseWire Corp. WiseWire technology now powers Lycos Web Guide.
February 1998. Acquired Tripod Inc. Proposed acquisition of Wired Digital by Lycos.
June 23, 1997. Lycos Pro launched, introducing new search algorithm.
April 1996. Launched on the stock exchange.
February 1996. ‘Sites by Subject’ (formerly A2Z directory) begun.
June 1995. Company founded. Lycos Inc. is joint venture of CMG @ Ventures and Carnegie Mellon University.
May 1994. Search engine launched. Developed by Dr. Michael Mauldin of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Later sold to AOL.

YAHOO:

Yahoo! began as a student hobby and evolved into a global brand that has changed the way people communicate with each other, find and access information and purchase things. The two founders of Yahoo!, David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, started their guide in a campus trailer in February 1994 as a way to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. Before long they were spending more time on their home-brewed lists of favorite links than on their doctoral dissertations. Eventually, Jerry and David's lists became too long and unwieldy, and they broke them out into categories. When the categories became too full, they developed subcategories ... and the core concept behind Yahoo! was born.
The Web site started out as "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web" but eventually received a new moniker with the help of a dictionary. The name Yahoo! is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the general definition of a yahoo: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Yahoo! itself first resided on Yang's student workstation, "Akebono," while the software was lodged on Filo's computer, "Konishiki" - both named after legendary sumo wrestlers.
Jerry and David soon found they were not alone in wanting a single place to find useful Web sites. Before long, hundreds of people were accessing their guide from well beyond the Stanford trailer. Word spread from friends to what quickly became a significant, loyal audience throughout the closely-knit Internet community. Yahoo! celebrated its first million-hit day in the fall of 1994, translating to almost 100 thousand unique visitors.
Due to the torrent of traffic and enthusiastic reception Yahoo! was receiving, the founders knew they had a potential business on their hands. In March 1995, the pair incorporated the business and met with dozens of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. They eventually came across Sequoia Capital, the well-regarded firm whose most successful investments included Apple Computer, Atari, Oracle and Cisco Systems. They agreed to fund Yahoo! in April 1995 with an initial investment of nearly $2 million.
Realizing their new company had the potential to grow quickly, Jerry and David began to shop for a management team. They hired Tim Koogle, a veteran of Motorola and an alumnus of the Stanford engineering department, as chief executive officer and Jeffrey Mallett, founder of Novell's WordPerfect consumer division, as chief operating officer. They secured a second round of funding in Fall 1995 from investors Reuters Ltd. and Softbank. Yahoo! launched a highly-successful IPO in April 1996 with a total of 49 employees.
Today, Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet communications, commerce and media company that offers a comprehensive branded network of services to more than 345 million individuals each month worldwide. As the first online navigational guide to the Web, www.yahoo.com is the leading guide in terms of traffic, advertising, household and business user reach. Yahoo! is the No. 1 Internet brand globally and reaches the largest audience worldwide. The company also provides online business and enterprise services designed to enhance the productivity and Web presence of Yahoo!'s clients. These services include Corporate Yahoo!, a popular customized enterprise portal solution; audio and video streaming; store hosting and management; and Web site tools and services. The company's global Web network includes 25 World properties. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Yahoo! has offices in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia, Canada and the United States.