Microsoft to launch internet search engine
Microsoft is set to take the wraps off its internet search engine on Thursday, touching off a hotly anticipated battle with Google and Yahoo for dominance in the fastest-growing area of online activity.
The launch of the Microsoft search engine could pose one of the first big challenges to Google's break-neck growth.
It could also turn the increasingly global search engine business into an American triumvirate, cementing US dominance of the most significant new area of online commerce to have emerged since the dotcom bust.
According to one person familiar with Microsoft's plans, it is not yet ready to launch its promised desktop search tool, though this remains an important part of its plans.
Google has struck first with a test version of its desktop search service, which can find information stored in different file types, including AOL instant messages and Microsoft's Word and Excel formats.
The Microsoft search engine is expected to be launched as part of its MSN service, guaranteeing significant traffic.
The software company has refused to say whether it plans to create an advertising service, something that would make it possible to sell adverts linked to the results produced by its search engine. It relies on Yahoo's Overture subsidiary for this.
Building the search engine has been one of the biggest new technology initiatives at Microsoft over the past year. Given the large investments by Microsoft and its major local rivals, and the fact that the technology can be applied equally effectively to websites in any language, the early leaders from the US have had a big advantage over rivals overseas.
The powerful early rally in Google's shares has faded in recent days as investors have weighed its growth prospects, partly in the light of expected competition from Microsoft.
Google's shares slipped another 3.85 per cent on Tuesday to close at $168.70.
微软将推出互联网搜索引擎
微软(Microsoft)即将在周四揭开其互联网搜索引擎的面纱。外界热烈预期，此举将触发微软与Google和雅虎(Yahoo)在互联网搜索领域主导地位之争。互联网搜索是目前发展最快速的在线活动。
微软搜索引擎的推出，可能会给Google的飞速发展带来一次首轮的大挑战。
它还可能会把日益全球性的搜索引擎业务转变成美国三雄鼎立的态势，加强美国在该领域中的统治地位。网络搜索是自互联网泡沫破裂以来兴起的、意义最重大的在线商务新领域。
据一位熟悉微软计划的人士说，虽然微软此前许诺的桌面搜索工具是计划的一个重要部分，但该公司还未作好推出这个搜索工具的准备。
此前Google已率先发布了它的桌面搜索服务的测试版本，该软件能够找出以不同文件类型储存的信息，包括美国在线(AOL)即时讯息与微软Word及Excel格式。
预计微软搜索引擎将作为MSN服务的一部分推出，从而确保其巨大的用户流量。
这家软件公司拒绝表明它是否有计划创设一项广告服务，这项服务将使公司有可能针对搜索引擎生成的结果来销售广告。它这项服务现依赖于雅虎的子公司Overture来做到。
在过去一年里，建立搜索引擎一直是微软最大的技术创新活动之一。由于微软及其美国主要竞争对手进行了巨额投资，以及该技术能同样有效地应用于各种语言的网站，因此来自美国的早期领军企业相对于海外竞争对手拥有更巨大的优势。
部分投资者已考虑到来自微软的竞争，并将Google的增长前景作出了相应调整，因此Google股票早期的强劲上涨近来已有所减弱。
Google股价周二再下跌3.85%，收于168.70美元。
(back)NTT seeks review of its trading restrictions
NTT yesterday issued a strong public plea for fundamental changes to Japan's telecommunications competition rules amid fears that its core fixed-line business was facing terminal decline under the regulatory regime. The former telecoms monopoly, reporting a 6 per cent decline in revenues for the fixed-line unit in the first half, said it was suffering because of changing technology and incursions into its core markets by rivals. These difficulties meant that restrictions on its operations introduced five years ago to promote competition were no longer fair, it added.
Norio Wada, NTT president, said: “We would like to ask for an urgent review of competition policy. We aim to build healthy finances . . . but in order to do this, we need to have the regulatory environment reviewed.” His plea throws the spotlight on the flaws in NTT's restructuring in 1999, when the group was split into four large operating companies two fixed-line local-call companies, a mobile operator, and a long-distance and international-call provider.
Changes in technology, particularly the rise of mobile services and voice over internet protocol, have led to a decline in conventional fixed-line services and deregulation has allowed fully integrated telecoms companies such as rival KDDI to lease NTT's lines and slash prices.
Some analysts believe the regulatory structure has become burdensome for NTT. “If this state of affairs continues, NTT will continue to weaken and this is negative for the national interest,” said Hitoshi Hayakawa, telecoms analyst at CSFB in Tokyo.
NTT indicated it would like to see the easing of regulations requiring the separation of the group into distinct business lines, so that it could return to being a fully integrated service provider.
“We would like the framework to be revised so that the NTT group can also provide one-stop services,” Mr Wada said. The company was also concerned about other rules, such as a requirement for it to provide universal fixed-line telephone services, under which it must maintain a national network even in unprofitable rural areas.
Mr Wada said that in the meantime, to counter the decline in its fixed-line business, NTT planned to build a next-generation optical-fibre network and shift to internet protocol technology.
NTT plans to move about half its subscriber lines, 30m, to the new network by 2010 with the remainder moving gradually thereafter. Mr Wada warned that NTT would need clear direction from the regulator about who would bear the cost of maintaining the current fixed line network until it was safe to terminate it.
The group lowered it forecast for full-year operating profits to Y1,175bn ($11bn) from Y1,180bn, saying “we cannot be very optimistic” about the future outlook.
The relentless decline in fixed line voice traffic combined with lower revenues at DoCoMo, its mobile subscriber, resulted in a 1.7 per cent decline in group sales to Y5,322bn and a 6 per cent fall in operating profits to Y787.8bn.Lex, Page 14
NTT：应彻底改革日本电信规则
日本电信电话公司(NTT)昨天公开发表声明，强烈要求对日本的电信规则进行根本性改革，原因是公司担心，在这个监管体制下，其核心的固线业务正面临致命下滑。这家一度垄断电信业务的企业报告，旗下固线子公司今年上半年的营收下降6%。公司表示，业绩受损的原因是技术的改变以及竞争对手入侵了其核心市场。公司补充说，这些困难意味着，5年前采用的、旨在限制其业务并鼓励竞争的措施已不再公平。
日本电信电话总裁和田纪夫(Norio Wada)表示：“我们希望政府重新审核竞争政策。我们的目的是建设健康的财务状况……但为了做到这一点，我们有必要让政府重新审核监管环境。”他的请求使公众的注意力集中到了日本电信电话1999年重组的缺陷上，当时该集团被拆分为四个大型运营公司：两家固线市话公司、一家移动运营商，以及一家长途和国际电话提供商。
技术方面出现的变化，尤其是移动服务和互联网协议(IP)语音电话的兴起，已导致传统固线服务的下滑，而行业管制的解除已允许竞争对手KDDI等已完全整合的电信公司得以租用日本电信电话的线路并降低价格。
一些分析师相信，监管结构已变成日本电信电话的繁重负担。“如果这种事态继续，日本电信电话将继续衰弱，且这不利于国家利益，”瑞士信贷第一波士顿(CSFB)的分析师早川仁(Hitoshi Hayakawa)表示。
日本电信电话指出，公司希望政府放松要求将集团拆分成不同业务部门的规定，这样公司就能成为一家完全整合的服务供应商。
公司也担忧其他规定，如要求公司提供普通固定电话服务。根据这一要求，公司必须维持一个全国性网络，即使是在不盈利的农村地区也得这样。
和田纪夫先生表示，同时，为了阻遏公司固定电话业务的下降，日本电信电话计划架设一个下一代光纤网络，并转而采用IP技术。
