Yahoo working on desktop search

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Terry Semel said that the Internet media company is working on a desktop search program that would help people find information stored on their computer hard drives.

Desktop search is the latest battlefield in Yahoo's ongoing rivalry with Web search leader Google Inc. and others.

"Yahoo is working on it. In short course, we'll have a desktop solution as well," Semel said at an investment conference in Scottsdale, Arizona which was broadcast over the Internet. He did not say specifically when Yahoo's desktop search program would be released.

Semel also said he plans to stay put at Yahoo. Semel, a former Hollywood studio executive, is seen by some as a strong potential successor to retiring Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner.

"I enjoy being a builder. I love what I do at Yahoo. I'm looking forward to at least the next bunch of years, I hope many, of doing what I'm doing," Semel said.

In mid-October, Google released a test of its desktop search product.

Software giant Microsoft Corp., which is preparing to take on Google and Yahoo in the Web search market they dominate, also plans to launch a test version of its own desktop search product by year-end.