Yahoo!, the internet directory, is dropping Google as its search engine in favour of its own technology. Microsoft's MSN is also about to introduce its own search engine. Kim Gilmour, features editor at Internet Magazine, talks to Times Online about putting the battle into context.

Why has Yahoo! dumped the Google search?

Yahoo! started off as an internet search company before Google existed, but hasn't had the same success in the field. However the $30 billion (£16bn) company has recently bought several respected search engines including Inktomi, All The Web, Alta Vista and Overture so that it can enhance its search facility - still the first thing you see on its sites - itself.

It has said that with its own engine it expects to provide half of all web site search queries in the US through its own sites and those of its partners (whcih, confusingly include MSN).

Is the Yahoo! contract a great loss for Google?

No. Google is making so much money from advertising and so many people use Google that I don't think it will be a massive loss. It would have been expecting Yahoo!'s move for some time. Speculation has put Google's worth on the stock market, if and when it floats, at up to $15 billion (£8bn).

Can Google be challenged?

At the moment I think Google is streets ahead of all the other search engines, but I think that Yahoo! will give Google a run for its money. With its acquisitions it has the ingredients of a successful mix.

Overture provides paid-for links, generating a new revenue stream for Yahoo!. This is direct competition for Google's Ad Words which are sponsored links that appear when you search for something related to that advertiser's business.

But I think it's a two-horse race between them at the moment.

MSN is something to look out for later. Google is so popular and is having great success at creating new revenue streams that it will take time for competitors to catch up.

What sets Google apart from the rest?

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