Visits from MSN’s spiders, or robots, were spotted in web server logs earlier this week, and Microsoft later confirmed that it has started to create its own web index, although it has not yet made it publicly available for querying.
MSNBot, as the company has named the software, is a prototype the company said. The software is in the R&D stage, and may not pick up as many pages as competing search engine crawlers.
It seems likely that the index created by Microsoft will ultimately replace Inktomi’s index at MSN Search. Microsoft renegotiated its Inktomi contract after the Yahoo acquisition was announced.
The latest deal has Inktomi providing MSN Search results until December 2005, but Microsoft can cancel the deal without reason as long as it provides 90 days notice. Microsoft also does not have to name Inktomi or Yahoo on its site.
Source: Computerwire
