MSN, Internet portal of Microsoft, has announced that they have acquired the email search tool company, Lookout. The software MSN purchased has the ability to search for files and desktop data within Microsoft email client, Outlook.
“Lookout has developed an innovative technology for searching e-mail that is aligned with our own MSN Search efforts,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of MSN. “Our vision is to take search beyond today’s basic Internet search services to deliver direct answers to people’s questions, and help them find information from a broad range of sources. We are thrilled to add the expertise of the Lookout team to our existing team of search experts.”
Lookout, which was founded by Mike Belshe and Eric Hahn, has become part of MSN’s $100 million investment to improve the look, feel, and relevancy of their search engine presence. As part of he acquisition Belshe will be joining MSN, while Hahn assist in the software’s transition to Microsoft.
“It’s truly exciting to be joining the MSN Search team,” Belshe said. “With Microsoft’s focus in the search arena, we feel this is a great opportunity to expand on the technology we have built in a way that will really help consumers. MSN’s own cutting-edge technology combined with Lookout and other upcoming products is going to fundamentally change this industry in a very positive way.”
“Our goal was to build simple, high-quality tools that empower people to spend less time processing e-mail,” Hahn said. “I’m very thankful to the large community of people that provided feedback and support to our efforts, which ultimately resulted in continuous improvements to the Lookout software.”
Judging by what is being said my MSN about the purchase; it doesn’t appear like Microsoft bought Lookout for its Outlook capabilities. With Belshe joining the MSN search team and the spin that the software giant has put on the acquisition, it seems that Lookout was purchased in order to add its knowledge to the upcoming MSN search.
No mention was made of the two Lookout founders joining the Longhorn desktop search project, or of incorporating the software into Outlook.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest search news.
