WebProNews

With the big Yahoo Microsoft deal announced, there are still a lot of questions out there, despite the significant amount of information the companies have shared thus far. We know that Bing will become the search engine used in Yahoo searches. We also know that Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo's core search technologies.

So what does this mean for the search technologies that Yahoo has been working on, and has opened up to third party developers? What does it mean for projects like SearchMonkdey and BOSS? It looks like not even Yahoo knows that yet. The subject was brought up on the Yahoo Developer Blog.

"For SearchMonkey and BOSS, we currently do not have anything concrete to tell you," says Chris Yeh, Head of the Yahoo Developer Network. "Clearly, we’ll need to work with Microsoft to determine what makes the most sense for you and for us."

Ashim Chhabra of the BOSS Team writes the following in a letter to BOSS developers:

What specifically does it mean for BOSS? Honestly the team is still absorbing the implications and we just don't know. We can tell you that BOSS will remain live for the time being. There are many aspects still to be considered. Over the next several days we'll be working hard to get clarity and will update the
community as soon as we can.

If you want the official messaging, here it is…

"What about developer tools and APIs like SearchMonkey and BOSS?

This is the beginning of a process and we'll be working with Microsoft to determine what makes the best sense for both us and developers. Regardless, we are certainly committed to continuing to innovate on the user experience of search all across Yahoo! and on continuing to engage with the developer community on several fronts, opening up leading audience experiences and data to third-party innovation. In that context, SearchMonkey can add a lot of value to how we help people get the most out of search and out of Yahoo!. Over the next several months we'll determine what makes sense with our developer offerings and provide information when available."

Developers should keep in mind that the Microsoft Yahoo deal is centered around search and advertising. Yahoo makes it clear that other developer offerings like YUI, YQL, and Pipes, will not be affected.