Credit where credit is due: Paul Kedrosky, an investor, columnist and educator who writes an informative blog called Infectious Greed, did a great job this morning connecting the dots between Microsoft’s just announced $1.2 billion purchase of Fast Search and Traffic and Google’s still rising share of Web searches. He writes: “The purchase of the Norwegian company, known for its enterprise and unstructured searc Credit where credit is due: Paul Kedrosky, an investor, columnist and educator who writes an informative blog called Infectious Greed, did a great job this morning connecting the dots between Microsoft’s just announced $1.2 billion purchase of Fast Search and Traffic and Google’s still rising share of Web searches. He writes: “The purchase of the Norwegian company, known for its enterprise and unstructured search technology, is an attempt by Microsoft to end-run Google, taking a stronger position alongside the one that Google dominates.”Dominates indeed. Despite all of Microsoft’s efforts, the most recent tally of search market share by Hitwise, shows Google gaining share at Microsoft’s expense. Here are the numbers. Google’s share in December was 65.98%, up from 65.10% the previous month; while Microsoft’s share (including MSN search and Live.com) dropped to 7.04% from 7.09%. More telling is the year-over comparison. In December 2006, Google’s share was 63.15% versus Microsoft’s 9.8%. It doesn’t take an MBA to see that Redmond has to try something different if it wants to make gains in search and the closely related online advertising market. Underlining Microsoft’s seriousness is the rich price: 5.9x 2008 sales is richer than prior deals and represents 5.5% of Microsoft’s cash balance, Kedrosky points out. This is serious money. 451 Group analysts Kathleen Reidy and Brenon Daly note that of late, FAST’s (as the company is sometimes called) primary focus has been on selling search technology to companies that generate revenue from search, like companies in media, retail, travel and similar lines. It will take Microsoft a while to figure out what it has in Fast Search and to bring it to bear in the sectors of the market where it will play, they said in a research note. “But assuming there are no major missteps on Microsoft’s part, this move should have a fairly dramatic impact on the search market.”(Disclosure: I have a small position in Microsoft.) I welcome your comments, tips and suggestions. Reach me at bill_snyder@infoworld.com. Technology Industry