MSN new search engine
MSN launches its new search engine which will compete the Google searching technology. Here's the excerpt from the Electric News:
The new facility, which is part of web portal MSN, is aimed squarely at Google's core competence -- internet searches. The move also marks the end of MSN's partnership with Yahoo, which had been providing Microsoft with its web search technology. The pair became bedfellows when Yahoo purchased MSN's previous search-technology partner, Overture Services, in late 2003...
Microsoft, typically a latecomer with regard to new technology, has been under real pressure from Google and Yahoo, with the former branching out into new quasi-search markets like e-shopping, news aggregation, internet matchmaking, and even online book searches and maps -- areas that are likely to draw users away from the MSN portal. ...
Still, the company was quick to point to MSN Search's capabilities, including a feature that links the engine to Microsoft's Encarta encyclopaedia, providing answers to specific questions asked by users. A similar feature will deliver details about musicians, record labels and bands, with click-through options that will let US users purchase music tracks from MSN Music.
Other new MSN Search features include a "Search Builder" to allow people to emphasise or de-emphasise certain criteria in specific searches. A category-specific search option and so-called local searches are also available, Microsoft said. MSN noted that most of the new features -- such as music and local searches -- are aimed at US users; however, the company's new search engine does support 10 languages. ...
