Posted on 02/01/2005 6:38:41 AM PST by KwasiOwusu
Microsoft on Monday replaced Yahoo's search technology with its own homespun software and will kick off a huge advertising campaign to supplant Google in consumers' hearts.
As expected, MSN, a unit of the software giant, has taken its Web search technology out of the laboratory, and placed it on MSN's newly redesigned home page in 25 countries. Two and a half years in the making, MSN Search will now be the focal point of the updated, lighter-weight site; and it is the subject of Microsoft's newest ad campaign, which includes television, print, Internet and outdoor promotions.
MSN Search Vice President Christopher Payne would not disclose ad spending, but he estimated that 90 percent of Americans, as well as U.K. and Japanese residents, will encounter the campaign. television ads, for example, will run during the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Grammys. "Oh, you're going to notice it," he said.
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Google is still at the top of the heap, but its lead is shrinking. In December 2004, Google served about 34.7 percent of the market, down 0.3 percent from the previous period in 2003, according to ComScore Networks. During the same period, Yahoo jumped from serving 27 percent of the market to 31.9 percent. And MSN added a point to its position, going from 15.4 percent to 16.3 percent from December to December.
Key to MSN's strategy to win over the Web population is providing "answers" to queries, rather than millions of links, Payne said. While Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, Google and smaller sites like Answers.com have sought to fill in search requests with answers to questions on the weather, entertainment and package tracking, MSN believes it can do one better with its encyclopedia software Encarta.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...
Using the search is not a problem (and I have not complained of any!!).
There must be some sort of background filter that determines that I am in Switzerland and sends me automatically to the beta (will most likely be corrected when the Swiss servers are changed over).
I have overcome this by going directly to search.msn.com. I do not get redirected when querying from there.
"Microsoft has thrown down its guantlet for Search about 10 times now... and they always land with a unimpressive thud."
Is that what the Netscape people said too?
Not only that, but 99.99% of the eBay auctions that it links to have already expired. Google has become nothing but a mechanism to deliver advertisements to your computer, and the MS search engine will do just the same.
"I point out that the local search is a joke"
Mine works fine...but I do know how to use it too.
"Compared to Mac and Linux it is a joke."
When you only have to pieces of software to run, it's bound to be faster?
"Free Republic" Search Results:
It takes time to populate a data base.
Will be interesting to see if the number changes with time?
Fun...
I often look for sites located near me.
The search provides a "near me" button which the user can seed with a location to search in and around....pretty cool
Well, golly, gee. Thanks for the civics lesson...I had no idea....being born and educated here in America. And you even think its "fine" ...that even makes me feel lots better about it, now that I know you approve....NOT!
How old are you, Little Precious?
Don't know, but microsoft's track record of taking over industies is not without failures, and a decade of failure in search puts MS in the search arena equivalent to MS in the personal finance arena.
Quicken still beats MS Money hands down... and thats even after MS got to see every single piece of internal info of quickens back when they were going to buy them out....
With MS history speaks more than anything else, and in this arena, they have a 10 year track record of failure, in spite of trying their darndest not to.
Google has rested on its luarels particularly in traditional searching, but even so, MS is so far behind the curve, I"m not sweating bullets thinking MS is gonna be the next google.
Oh, man. I can't believe I agree with you. Don't tell anyone. Personally, after Google started pulling all their leftist crap like recognizing Ray Charles Birthday (nothing wrong with that, I thought it was great), but then ignoring Veterans Day, making the "I feel lucky" link for "moron" to a biography of George Bush, I'm ready to see the dark side known as Microsoft take them down at the ankles.
Nope.
Its not relevant to my msn search from msn.com.
Well, AAE, I think this comment tells us what we thought, eh?
but still sooooo true.
But of course you are, Little Precious, since you're a paid shill.
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