Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is on the acquisition path yet again, this time in Norway. The world's largest software company said today that it will purchase Norwegian data search firm Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) for $1.2 billion in cash. FAST's board of directors has apparently put its unanimous support behind the deal and has suggested FAST shareholders do the same. A 90% shareholder approval is required before the deal can be closed. FAST shares are traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

FAST's business is powering the backend of business search, which -- ahem -- sounds like what Google has gotten its paws into within the last two-plus years as well. Is this another attempt by Microsoft to "catch up" to Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) in another market? It surely appears so. Microsoft is throwing so much cash around trying to feverishly catch Google in many areas that it's hard to imagine it's not playing a game of averages. Google's brand name is still hot on the tongues of consumers and market pundits. Is Microsoft's? If not, it's trying to regain some market notoriety, I suppose.

Jeff Raikes, Microsoft's Business Division President, said "Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly ...the combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs." An all-in-one stop for business search shopping, eh? DnB NOR Markets analyst Trygve Lauvdal lauded Microsoft on the deal, praising FAST's bright future and Microsoft's acquisition with the company's Oslo-traded share price being so low. All things considered, $1.2 billion is a pretty small market cap for a company deeply ensconced in the business search market.

Well, I sort of have to say I've been waiting for this one -- someone to step up to the plate and offer contextual text ads that don't go through Google. While Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) ad system is the lifeblood of thousands (millions?) of small and large websites, are there alternatives out there that don't use a middleman and still work as well as Google?

Well, a company called Fast Search & Transfer this week announced and released an ad platform that does just this. In other words, this will allow media companies and online classified websites to serve up text ads that are relevant to the consumer (just like with Google) without the use of a middle entity at all.

Now, this is quite the same (or so it appears) as Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) AdCenter and Yahoo! Inc.'s (NASDAQ:YHOO) Panama -- or is it? Both Microsoft and Yahoo! -- if they'll ever admit it -- are trying to emulate Google's fantastically-successful ad model. But, who says more folks can't leap into the fray as well?

The main issue here is first-mover advantage -- Google has it big over just about everyone. Can Fast Search & Transfers "Fast AdMomentum" platform even glean a handful of customers away from Google? It'll be hard, whatever its strategy is.