Yahoo could soon end its being an independent company, but a decade ago it was in fact tied with Google in the battle for the Internet. Since then Google has become one of the world's largest companies in terms of market value, which followed the companies' fortunes going in two different directions.
In the early 2000s Google and Apple were in a viscous battle for the World Wide Web. One key difference between the Silicon Valley companies was the way they handled core infrastructure. It helped to give Google a solid base to build a business.
At the start of the millennium the Internet economy included key tools including search and email. Yahoo used NetApp filers to quickly add service space. The storage appliances were easy to set up and use.
Meanwhile, Google started building its own software infrastructure that would later be named Google File System. It would work as a platform for all of Google' services in an ecosystem.
This was a solid and flexible architecture. Google File System made it easier to roll out web applications including maps and cloud storage.
The Alphabet subsidiary spent four years and tons of engineering resources before Google File System could be used for key operations, according to Tech Crunch. It seemed that Yahoo was winning the war for the Internet. The company could add NetApp filters very quickly to meet the demands for the company's services.
However, some drawbacks of Yahoo's appliance-based infrastructure started to show up. That happened as demand increased and became more complex. Yahoo had to tweak the NetApp platform each time it added a new service.
This required different services such as Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Search to be changed on different infrastructures. The cost of running NetApp appliances also started to rise quickly.
Meanwhile, Google's file system was built for such challenges. For example, after it added YouTube the company's engineers made changes to the architecture that worked on all Google services.
In related news, Google just added "rich cards" to make it easier to find information on mobile search. It was launched last week with a pair of content categories: movies and recipes, according to PC Magazine.
Google announced in a blog post that this makes it easier to notice sites in search engine results. It will also help to boost targeted users that visit their web pages.
Here's a video on the possible sale of Yahoo: