Print - MSN Search Goes Live

Microsoft formally launched MSN Search this morning, roughly 2 years after announcing plans to go head to head with market leader Google in the Web search market. The MSN Search launch follows several months of public beta testing, during which the company garnered feedback from users and fine-tuned the offering.

"This built-from-the-ground-up version of MSN Search provides an infrastructure that enables us to rapidly innovate and give consumers precisely the information they're looking for, no matter where it's located," Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of the MSN Information Services & Merchant Platform Division, said. Available in 25 markets and 10 languages, MSN Search features several innovative features that differentiate it from Google and other search engines.

For example, the new Near Me feature uses reverse IP lookup to find geographically relevant search results. And, with free access to the voluminous Encarta database, MSN Search can solve equations such as 2y^3 + 4y -10 = 9 and answer plain English questions such as, "Who shot Abraham Lincoln?" and "How many calories does spinach contain?" You can also use the service to perform conversions by using plain English questions such as, "How many pints are in 18 quarts?"

In addition, MSN Search features a Search Builder feature that uses simple graphical tools to help you build complicated searches. You can also categorize searches to limit them to currently playing movies, Encarta, images, music, news, stock quotes, shopping, the Web, or word lookup. These features logically integrate with other MSN services. For example, if you search for a music artist, you'll find links that let you purchase music or find more information about the artist on MSN Music.

To help drive users to its new search engine, MSN is also launching a new marketing campaign that will reach at least 90 percent of consumers in the United States and several hundred million other users worldwide. The campaign will include TV spots and print and Web advertising. Microsoft has also redesigned the MSN.com Web page to more prominently feature the new search functionality. MSN's Web site currently attracts more than 360 million unique users each month.

Will MSN Search succeed? Currently, search market leader Google has a commanding lead and is one of the most popular brands on the Internet. But Microsoft has a few interesting advantages. First, MSN Search will be highly visible across all the company's frequently visited MSN Web properties and services, including MSN Messenger; that visibility should attract a lot of users. Second, Microsoft's deep development background means that the company is ideally suited to solving the problem of relevant Web searches. In the future, MSN Search will be accessible via automobiles and cell phones and will use GPS to find directions, local restaurants, and other information that's relevant to your current position. Although the seeds of that work are now only in a gestational phase with the Near Me functionality, it's not hard to imagine where Microsoft is going with this technology. Finally, Google itself is highly overrated. The company values its strange home-brew server farms and offers silly employee perks such as Segways for use at work; a viable contender could easily show the company that the Emperor has no clothes.

Time will tell whether MSN Search has what it takes to unseat Google. Whatever happens, it will be a long, slow haul. In the meantime, I'll post my review of MSN Search on the SuperSite for Windows later today.

If Google is overrated, I wonder what that makes Microsoft...? Paul, I think your "journalistic abilities" might be overrated too. Just how is MS ideally suited for solving the problem of relevant web searches? And whatever happened to P***port? Put down your pom-poms and go back school.

Now, if they can just make my Technet searches more relevant, they will actually have something useful.

I don't know if Google's 'days are numbered' but any new search tool deserves a look, even if it is a M$ product.

">MSN Search can solve equations and answer plain English questions such as "2y^3 + 4y -10 = 9" Maths homework will never be the same...

lol! I was thinking the same thing about math homework! Damn, where was MSN when I was in school!

It actually went live last night around 10, but who cares. Yeah i wish it could factor Trinomials, maybe it can i don't know. Do you think they'll release the final MSN toolbar suite anytime soon? It'll make this finalization of their whole search initiative more complete and have a better response from the public. They should also release Messenger 7 final as well as soon as possible. Get the whole integration of products up and going.

After having screwed up searching in Windows Explorer, TechNet, and Visual Studio help, I wonder if Microsoft could find their *** with both hands. Google may not be da bomb, but at least they don't cover up their failures with cute puppies and talking paperclips. http://blakeross.com/index.php?p=27

Yeah.. these soft launches are so amazing.. we launched this thing abotu 3 months ago.. HERE'S THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH.. cuz no one cared about the beta launch.. *sigh

Why does the graphic style of the tabs at the top on MSN.com remind me of the tabs on Yahoo.com?

"Finally, Google itself is highly overrated." So is Micro$oft, but that doesn't stop people from using its products.

MSN Search is going to have a hard time overtaking Google. When a product becomes a verb (and a very popular one at that), it's got mindshare that is going to be hard to beat. This is one battle I don't think MS can win. Regarding the "welcome to 1998" comment... asinine. Grow up. Think these features were in any search engine in '98? Butthead. To the guy using "Micro$oft" in his post... gee you are real clever. Come up with that one by yourself. You too Mr. "M$ product". Putz.

All the people that love to refer to Microsoft as M$ or Micro$oft... what clever change can we make to Linux, Apple, et al? Maybe LinuXXX? Crapple? Puke-nix? Loser-nux? Never-been-with-a-girlinux? Isn't it just a laff riot?

i dont see what the big deal is...i tried it and found some ****...cool. google does the same for me. why this warrants such comments as "googles days are numbered" baffles me. god forbid a company other than microsoft does something well, and without bloating or being overrun with corporate sponsorship. i will stick with google just for the simple fact that i am ****ing sick of microsoft stepping in everywhere. we're going to have microsoft toasters before we know it...they will be vulnerable to outside attacks and catch my microsoft brand toast on fire, and burn down my microsoft apartment. we will try to save it with a microsoft brand extinguisher, but it will crash or need to update files before releasing any fire retarding chemicals

The Emperor has no clothes? You are so full of it. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1758554,00.asp Profits and revenues continued to soar for Google as it posted its second quarterly earnings report since becoming a public company. The search company reported Tuesday that its revenue doubled both for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 and for the 2004 calendar year. Revenue reached $1.03 billion in the fourth quarter and $3.19 billion for the year...

i dont think it was a matter of google being successful or not, but more a matter of necessity. in fact it was stated that a company other than microsoft did something well. to do something well is a good precursor to being successful. what it means is that when you go to google you get the bare essentials of a search engine. no more, no less. microsoft has a tendancy to bombard simple things with lots of unecessary things. it would also be nice to see a company other than microsoft succeeding at something. it reminds me a lot of the roman empire, and it did fall.

One thing that google is not doing well is that, when we send complain that someone steal our registered trademark on their web site (i.e. by putting a lot of "white"/"hidden" words in their page) and we ask them to remove that site from that specific keyword, they simply ignore our request. Hope the MSN will do better on this aspect...

Google will still be search engine of choice for two reasons; First, they index more pages. If I'm 'searching the Internet' I want my search to have the best possible chance of coming up with relevant results. I don't want to be using a search engine that misses results simply because it doesn't know about them! Second, having tried MSN Search, I just don't find that it comes up with relevant results to me.

The guys who run this web site are useless! Sincw when is passport (p.a.s.s.p.o.r.t) a bad word? Or are they just paranoid?

i think the mention of googles silly company perks is digging a bit deep for dirt. we have silly company perks at my place of business here in los angeles. we have a lax attitude and as a result our employees are all happy and morale is always high. we are also at the top in our industry. who wants to be stuffed in a cube with the only reward being "casual friday"...we are still human.

Google looks simple on the surface, but there's lots of powerful stuff going on underneath that Microsoft will eventually copy. I compare the feeling I get when Google can guess my intent to the feeling that many get when using a Mac; that someone has thought long and hard about the user experience. Just try entering a UPS or FedEx tracking number in Google. Did it do what you expected? And please, let's not use the term "journalist" when referring to Paul's site. It tends to get real journalists upset.

"MSN Search can solve equations and answer plain English questions such as "2y^3 + 4y -10 = 9" Maths homework will never be the same..." Heloooooo, wake up everyone. Google has been doing this for 3 years now

Well, I gave MSN Search a try and didn't like it. Search Builder is an annoyance compared to Google Advanced Search. Google's clean interface is a big plus and, contrary to what you claim, other features are not hard to find. I don't see anything particularly new or compelling in MSN Search.

Overall, I agree with Paul. But on this one, I don't know how you can say google has no competition. Yahoo is google's current competition. With MSN right behind. I still go to yahoo when I need other info like stock prices. But for search google gives the best results period.

I don't think this is going to amount to much. Google is well-established and that doesn't look set to change judging Microsoft's offering. It really isn't that great, I was expecting a lot more. And now with Google setting it's sights on areas closer to home (namely webmail, desktop search, etc.), I think Microsoft could've used the effort in much better ways.

Have you actually tried searching for "How many calories does spinach contain?". MSN Search can't answer that. And in fact it's the 5th link down before the search results answer it. You get better with "how many calories in spinach?" (3rd link in the results), beter still with "calories cup spinach" (2nd link) and the best is "calories spinach cup" where a site with the answer is the first link but you're left wondering how moving the word "cup" in the search terms helped. And in a search for names it often comes back with the wrong results there as well. Even if you put your name in brackets you might get back "forename@surname" as the first result, which wont have been what you searched for. What possesed it to add characters? On the contrary search "calories spinach" in google. First result. MSN search fails in 9/10 searches I try so basically there will need to be a complete overhaul of MSN Search to get it working before it even starts to look like a threat to Google. Right now though it is a piece of ****. BenN

Re: Issues with "googles days are numbered" comment. Google has access to the Encarta encyclopedia, does it? Does location-aware searches backed-up by MapPoint? Currently-playing movies? No? Strewth, you people see one comment you don't like the sound of and spin the whole thing out of context. OF ******* COURSE if MSN didn't offer additional services like those above Google wouldn't have it's 'days numbered', but read the whole flipping paragraph. Twats.