Microsoft withdraws book scanning plans
By Malcolm Slade on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 in Paid Search
Software giant Microsoft took a step back from its rivalry with Google last week as it announced the abandonment of plans to digitise millions of books.
The company revealed in a blog post that its would no longer be pursuing a book scan project that would have been a direct rival to Google's Book Search scheme.
Satya Nadella, search and advertising senior vice-president with Microsoft, commented: "We believe the next generation of search is about the development of an underlying, sustainable business model for the search engine, consumer and content partner."
Microsoft last week revealed that a new cashback project would offer consumers a proportion of money back on any purchase that began with Live Search.
According to the Associated Press, the decision to withdraw digital book scanning could indicate that Microsoft wants to choose its battles with Google more carefully.
The future of the company that was being paid to scan books and academic articles for Microsoft, nonprofit organisation Internet Archive, is now uncertain, noted the New York Times.