The Google Code
Tom Hanks would probably have a harder time tracking this one down, and I’m sure that Sergei and Larry would probably be at least as good a challenge as Paul Bettany, but they might not be as pale - but with payouts in the tens of millions for deciphering the search algorithm that drives search giant Google, it might be worth the efforts. Although search will definitely be the key to capitalizing on online advertising, and companies like Yahoo! (Pandora) and Microsoft (the money-losing search deal with Facebook, for example) are making great efforts to break the approximate 50% stranglehold that Google boasts in the search engine business, I think that those who control the online portals, the gateways to the Internet, so-to-speak, are better positioned to eventually conrol the search market. Google knows this, and that why it’s invested so heavily in acquiring and developing its own properties (YouTube, the search deal with MySpace, the rise of Orkut) and has increased the presense of their toolbar for the average user.
Microsoft is obviously in for a battle with Google, and the two are closing the gap quickly. Google has released their version of an Office suite, and Microsoft is quickly trying to take a Google-like approach to their Live Search and Virtual Earth mapping by seeking outside developers and mash-ups. Like Yahoo!, the potential in their userbase is undeniable, coupled with the popularity of their desktop software and operating systems, Microsoft has anything but lost the war. And like Yahoo!, the company can continue to lose the battle, so long as they maintain those users in their various properties and continue to improve on that one aspect that continues to lag. With billion dollar lawsuits starting to come at Google, now is the time for other companies to make their move, and Yahoo! and Microsoft have made moves that would suggest they are doing just that.
In the meantime, anyone able to crack the Google Code is probably setting themselves up for a major windfall.