Which search engine began as Tor Egge's FTP Search project?

AlltheWeb began as Tor Egge’s FTP Search project.

Tor Egge started FTP Search in 1994 while working on his doctoral thesis at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The project initially focused on finding files available through FTP servers, a major way of distributing software and documents before web search became dominant.

Egge’s work helped lead to Fast Search & Transfer, commonly abbreviated FAST, which was founded in 1997. FAST launched AlltheWeb in 1999 as a broader Internet search engine. It became known for a large, frequently updated index and advanced search features, including specialized FTP and image searching.

AlltheWeb was sometimes called FAST Search, so the names can be confusing: FTP Search was the earlier project, FAST was the company and technology lineage, and AlltheWeb was the public search engine. Yahoo acquired the relevant search business through Overture in 2003. Yahoo eventually closed AlltheWeb on April 4, 2011, after incorporating its search technology and data into Yahoo’s wider search operation.