Yahoo!: The Web's Future Is Not In Search - my view

Josh over at Read/Write Web has reported that Yahoo! are claiming that search will not dominate the Web as it currently does.

My view (left as a comment on Read/Write Web):

Future isn't search?
Possibly - I think it comes down to what people use the Web for. Most people currently don't 'live online', they hop on to do stuff - search will find them places do 'do stuff' (wanna book a train in Mongolia, Google it and away you go).

If, however, people* may start to use the Web as the place to 'be' - this is where I share my photos, write my draft novel, talk with my mates, watch "TV" ... then search may well become secondary.

Ultimately, I believe that they will co-exist.
For instance:
I wake up, check my emails, have a natter over the webcam with my Father in Wales, see that the team is online and finish off writing the business case together.
At the same time I need to book a train in Mongolia, find out if Fat Freddy's Drop is playing tonight and where the venue actually is.
All the time I'm keeping an eye on the 'filtered' RSS feeds for what's happening in the world that interests me.
I then watch a wee bit of Joost, check out last.fm for some relaxation and fall asleep.

(I'm sure I'd talk with real people in the real world ... if I could fit it in)

The system/site that can do all that will probably never exist, but it might be presented in one place ... a "homepage". The concept of sharing the functionality (widgets/gadgets) and info (common/micro formats) is probably the glue to having it all happen.

And so - Yahoo! are tackling one area of the Web world, Google the other, Netvibes yet another - there's room for them all.

* Normal people, not us Web 2.0 early adopters :-)

Your view?