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In July 2008, Yahoo announced <\/a> a radical new product called BOSS, or “Build Your Own Search Service” that lets developers tap into Yahoo’s core search index with an unprecedented amount of flexibility. Now, in light of the Microsoft\/Yahoo search deal that was announced<\/a> last summer, the future of BOSS is uncertain. That’s bad news for the many developers who have built projects on the BOSS APIs, some of whom are building businesses off of the service. Now, after being met with months of silence and uncertainty, some BOSS developers are taking action: they’ve scheduled a conference call with the Department of Justice to discuss their concerns.<\/p>\nIt’s understandable why the developers are agitated. Google and Bing both offer APIs, but they limit monetization options, limit the ways developers can change the way their search results are presented, and have myriad other restrictions that BOSS doesn’t. All of which means that developers can’t easily port their applications over to one of the alternatives.<\/p>\n
A developer identifying himself as “Phil” on the BOSS Yahoo Group sent a letter<\/a> to the DOJ outlining his concerns. The DOJ has apparently responded, saying that they will hold a conference call with any concerned developers (the group contains instructions for any BOSS developers who wish to join). We have a request in with the DOJ to verifiy that the call is scheduled, but it sounds legitimate.<\/p>\n We’ve reprinted Phil’s letter to the DOJ, which outlines the developers’ concerns, below:<\/p>\n Dear sir\/madam,<\/p>\n I represent a group of people who are concerned about a certain aspect of an In July 2008, Yahoo introduced a new program called Yahoo Boss. Boss is a “BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) is Yahoo!’s open search web services (Quote from http:\/\/developer.yahoo.com\/search\/boss\/)<\/p>\n The reason this program is so important is because before Boss, tens, if not Google and Microsoft do have their own similar APIS, but they are severely Over the many months since the Microsoft-Yahoo deal was announced, countless Obviously, this is of great concern to us. In addition to all the time and work Crunch Network<\/em><\/strong>: CrunchBase<\/a> <\/em>the free database of technology companies, people, and investors<\/p>\n\n
\nantitrust issue which we understand is currently being examined by your office.
\nThe matter at hand is the Microsoft-Yahoo deal. Our concern is the following:<\/p>\n
\nprogramming framework (called an API) which allows developers to create new
\nsearch engines which use the Yahoo database. In Yahoos own words:<\/p>\n
\nplatform. The goal of BOSS is simple: to foster innovation in the search
\nindustry. Developers, start-ups, and large Internet companies can use BOSS to
\nbuild and launch web-scale search products that utilize the entire Yahoo! Search
\nindex. BOSS gives you access to Yahoo!’s investments in crawling and indexing,
\nranking and relevancy algorithms, and powerful infrastructure. By combining your
\nunique assets and ideas with our search technology assets, BOSS is a platform
\nfor the next generation of search innovation, serving hundreds of millions of
\nusers across the Web.”<\/p>\n
\nhundreds of millions of dollars would be required to start a new search engine.
\nBoss changed all that by making Yahoos own servers and search results available
\nto third parties. In the year and a half since, tens, if not hundreds of
\ncompanies and web developers have spent thousands of hours developing new
\nwebsites, web applications and search engines using Yahoo Boss. By May 2009,
\nYahoo Boss was serving 30 million search queries a DAY through these websites
\n(http:\/\/www.ysearchblog.com\/2009\/05\/19\/key-milestones-for-searchmonkey-and-boss\/
\n). Clearly, Yahoo Boss is a unique program which has been the biggest catalyst
\nin search engine innovation and competition in years.<\/p>\n
\nlimited. Googles API gives the user but a small number of search results, while
\nboth Google and Microsofts apis disallow open monetization, thus rendering them
\nmeaningless from a competitive point of view.<\/p>\n
\ndevelopers have been asking Yahoo for information on the future of Yahoo Boss,
\nyet in vain. Yahoo refuses to tell us whether the framework will be shut down or
\nnot. This is even after the two companies announced that all the details of
\ntheir deal had been fleshed out. This has given us the distinct feeling that the
\ndecision to shut down Boss has already been made, but that they prefer to keep
\nthat quiet in order to not “rock the boat”.<\/p>\n
\nwe have put in, Boss is the ONLY factor which has allowed broad and viable
\ncompetition in the search engine industry. Shutting down Boss would by default
\nmean shutting down all the websites using it, in addition to signifying the end
\nto the aforementioned competition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n