A beta version of Microsoft's search went live yesterday
with an interface and features that bring it more into line with
popular search engines from Google and Yahoo.
A Microsoft official said that a less developed version of the
MSN Search service that Microsoft had made available for public
try-outs in summer was simply a search box without special features
or functionality that returned results grabbed from an index of
a billion documents.
MSN Search product manager Justin Osmer said the new beta had an
index of more than five billion documents and let users narrow and
customise queries.
He said the final release was expected in 2005 and would
eventually replace the search technology that Microsoft was
currently licensing for MSN from Yahoo. "Our overall goal with this
beta and eventually with the final product is to help users find
whatever information they want faster."
Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li, who tested the search
engine, described the relevance of its results as "not fantastic"
but adequate and "on par" with its competitors. She said the most
significant thing about it was that Microsoft was getting close to
having its own search engine, which would be a foundation for
future enhancements, features and integration with existing
Microsoft products and services.
"It's good enough," she said. "It gets the job done. And it puts
Microsoft at the table to play with everybody else. The most
important thing is that Microsoft owns it and so can do lots of
different things going forward with it."
Some of the MSN Search beta highlights are its ability to:
- return specific answers, such as facts, definitions,
conversions and calculations, to direct questions by tapping
content from Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia
- launch specific actions from the MSN Search interface, such as
listening to song samples and buying and downloading songs from MSN
Music
- narrow search results according to various parameters, such as
geographic location, news content, language, images, internet
domains, website address and web page popularity or creation
date.
Most of the MSN Search beta's features are genertally available
from other search engines, and Osmer acknowledged that Microsoft
had to work hard to enhance them and add new ones. "It's just a
starting point," he said.
A desktop search tool will also be unveiled before the end of
the year, and the plan is to integrate it tightly with the new
search engine.
A beta version of the MSN Messenger instant messaging client
already has a search bar built into it, and Microsoft plans to
continue to integrate and expand on it. A comparison shopping
feature wouldn't be out of the question, said Osmer.
Also likely is the ability to access MSN Search from wireless
devices. "It's certainly our intention to make search available no
matter where our customers are and where that information may
reside, so down the road mobile devices absolutely could be a part
of the strategy."
With the unveiling of the beta, Microsoft continues its march
towards the front lines of the search engine battles in an attempt
to snatch search users and advertising revenue from its
competitors.
Search-related ads currently make up around 40% of the total
internet ad spend in the US, according to a recent report from the
Internet Advertising Bureau and Pricewaterhousecoopers. The adverts
run along with search engine query results that are contextually
related to the ads.
According to comScore Networks, Google had the biggest share of
internet searches in the US in August with 36.1%, followed by Yahoo
with 30.6%. MSN was a distant third with 14.4%.
The beta of MSN Search is available at
http://beta.search.msn.com.
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service