The Seattle-Search.com Blog

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is planning a $328 million expansion of its global libraries initiative that will bring free Internet access and training into as many as 15 countries over the next seven years.

As reported in the Puget Sound Business Journal, the foundation on Thursday announced $17.5 million in grants for Botswana in Africa, as well as Latvia and Lithuania in Eastern Europe. The grants mark the first time the Seattle-based Gates Foundation has awarded money to Eastern European nations. Read the rest of this entry »

Ask.com’s search engine is sharpening its focus on local results in an attempt to make a bigger splash on the World Wide Web.The long-overshadowed company is hoping to finally outshine much-larger rivals Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. with a new service meant to become a one-stop destination for information about neighborhood events, movies, restaurants and other businesses. The service, dubbed “AskCity,” is scheduled to debut Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

The Des Moines Register is reporting that opening statements have begun in the Microsoft-Iowa antitrust case. The Register reports that the Plaintiffs have shaped their case around nine stories involving competitors from IBM to Linux. Microsoft attorneys say Gates is expected to testify in January, and company CEO Steve Ballmer will likely appear in February. Both men are expected to be on the stand for about four days.

Unlike previous antitrust cases against the software giant, the Iowa case is seeking additional damages for security vulnerabilities. Plaintiffs allege that Microsoft’s bundling of IE with Windows caused harm to consumers by increasing the consumer’s susceptibility to security breaches and bugs. The case is one of the largest antitrust cases in history, encompassing millions of documents and Microsoft’s business practices during the last 20 years.”