Ask Acquires Bloglines?

I'm not surprised these guys were acquired, but I am very surprised by "who".  Ask Jeeves...Come on.  First, I can't believe these guys are still around, or that anyone even uses Ask anymore.  I'm not going to be critical of the service that Ask provides because they do have a nice clean interface and as far as a search engine goes, I'm going to assume they do a good job.  My question would be, "Where are they going with this?", not to mention "what the heck were the guys at Bloglines thinking?".  I'm a big fan and user of Bloglines.  I only hope this doesn't impact the quality of the service.   No details were given about the terms of the deal.  I just hope they didn't give it away for a few hundred chickens or 20 head of cattle.

Comments

[PsychoBabble]

I don't understand. You dismiss Ask Jeeves then go on to say you're not in a postion to know anything about them. Is this how you typically go about life? You say "I don't like sushi", I say "Have you tried it?", you say "No, I've heard it's not as 'hip' as buffalo wings", I say "Hmmm. interesting". Do yourself and your readers a favor and try something out before you judge it. I find Ask Jeeves to be a worthy site in my search toolkit.

[Ron]

Read the "opinion" piece again. I've used Ask...not impressed. They don't differentiate themselves enough from Google in my opinion. I just don't see how this purchase will fit into what they do and how it will allow them to compete. I'm sure there's more to come.

[PsychoBabble]

I suppose it's the way you seem to contradict yourself that lead me to believe you don't use the site, "as far as a search engine goes, I'm going to assume they do a good job". How would you not know if you really test drove it? Hmmm...so they don't differentiate. Tell me if you see any differentiation below:

http://web.ask.com/web?q=weather+in+San+Francisco&qsrc=0&o=0
vs.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=weather+in+san+francisco

or

http://web.ask.com/web?q=George+Washington&qsrc=1&o=0
or
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=George+Washington&btnG=Search

or
http://web.ask.com/web?q=msft&qsrc=1&o=0
vs.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=msft&btnG=Search

lastly
http://web.ask.com/web?q=The+Big+Lebowski&qsrc=1&o=0
vs.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=The+Big+Lebowski&btnG=Search

Well? Look, what I'm saying is that different search engines perform better in certain situations. It's best to find out their strengths and use appropriately.

[Ron]

All great points. Again, I like the nice clean interface you get with Ask. I've used them in the past (but don't anymore, that's why I can only assume they do a good job). For me a Google search is quick and dirty. I can usually find what I'm looking for. As searching technology becomes more commoditized, you have to differentiate in other ways. I don't believe an aggregator (if the $14M price tag is true) would have been my first choice. How about making the API's available or developing a competing desktop search agent. How will they turn Bloglines nil-revenue into profits?