Yahoo looks to thwart Google with openness

Yahoo decided to open up its search platform to competitors in an effort to level the search playing field--and launch a hit at Google. The new Yahoo! Search BOSS is a Web API that lets developers and competitors build customized search products using Yahoo's internal search technology and infrastructure.

Yahoo says the idea behind BOSS (which stands for Build your Own Search Service) is to lower the barriers to search to allow for more innovative competitive offerings--to both Yahoo and Google. But it's also a money-maker and way to seed Yahoo search across the Internet. Once all these competitors begin using Yahoo's search infrastructure, Yahoo should be able to generate more advertising revenue, since sites that incorporate the tool will eventually run Yahoo search ads. In fact, Yahoo says start-ups Me.dium and Hakia are already using it.

But is the move a bit too little and too late? Aug. 1, the date of Yahoo's annual shareholder meeting, is just around the corner. And it's widely expected that billionaire financier Carl Icahn will use that meet to oust Yahoo chief Jerry Yang, along with the board, so he can gain control of Yahoo and sell it--or parts of it--to Microsoft. It will be interesting to see exactly how many developers will actually jump on board to build to a Yahoo platform that just may disappear soon.