personal从“Jerry Yang and David Filo，started compiling a database of links，mainly fortheir personal use．But well before the end o

YAHOO was the first wonder of the web, and in many respects, it still is. It started in January 1994 when two California graduate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo, started compiling a database of links, mainly for their personal use. But well before the end of the year, it had become recognizable as the Yahoo we know today.
    In the past seven years, Yahoo has expanded its range enormously, partly through a long string of acquisitions. Yahoo now offers almost everything you could want; e-mail, instant messaging, chat, clubs, photo albums, home web pages, file storage, shops, auc-tions, classified ads and more.
    There are two interesting tensions in the way Yahoo operates. The first is that it has opposite aims: it wants to send surfers away as quickly as possible, but also have them stick around as long as possible. The site’s original function was to provide users with high-quality links to other websites. The better this works, the less time you spend on Yahoo. But as regular visitor, of course, you may well be tempted to use the other services. You can spend hours doing your email, chatting, shopping, reading the news or listening to Yahoo Radio, all of which may involve receiving lots of banner ads.
    The other tension is between yahoo’s image—based mainly on its homely beginnings — and the corporate reality. Yahoo is not run by amateurs. It is big, rich aggressive multinational corporation. If someone has a good idea on the web —a site that keeps your pictures or coordinates party invitations—then pretty soon there is a Yahoo version too.
    It is possible to compete against Yahoo, but it is not easy. Like Microsoft in the software business, it is big enough to bury you.