Outside of the Box

Last week I spent four days in Houston Texas, enjoying humidity in the 90s with temperatures to match. The event was the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, the first since Microsoft acquired FAST Search and Transfer, and the first sporing several pretty good search solutions from Microsoft across a wide range of capabilities and cost.

At one of the final sessions, Rob Lancaster of FAST, like many others nowadays, described search as having gone "beyond the box" to the point that search is everywhere - it is the platform that enables collaboration, customized content, and a wide range or "web 2.0" capabilities. I certainly don't disagree.

The sign of a true visionary is being ahead of the curve. Philippe Courtot, CEO of Qualys, pretty much saved Verity on his own in 1991 with his management skills and drive. His mantra back then? "Search is ubiquitous". It's just taken the rest of the industry 15 years to catch up.