Print - Microsoft Launches Windows Desktop Search

MSN's latest Search Toolbar for Internet Explorer (IE) has been finalized and renamed as MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search, a moniker designed to show customers that the software giant is ready to play hardball in what is seen as a crucial new market. Windows Desktop Search, like Apple Spotlight, a feature in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger," integrates into the operating system and provides pervasive document and email searching functionality. Previously, Microsoft had promised to deliver Windows Desktop Search functionality in Longhorn, the next Windows version, now due in late 2006.

"By offering the most integrated desktop search capabilities for Windows, now people can search their PC as fast as they can search the Web," says Yusuf Mehdi, the senior vice president for the MSN Information Services & Merchant Platform division at Microsoft. "The new MSN Search Toolbar makes it easy for customers to find precisely what they're looking for, no matter where it resides."

Even during the beta, the MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search was nicely done, but the release version adds a few niceties that put it over the top. First, Setup now offers a variety of great options, letting you pick which toolbars you want installed. Available toolbars, which act as entry points to the search functionality, include the Deskbar, which sits in the Windows Taskbar; the Search Toolbar for Outlook; the Search Toolbar for Windows Explorer; and the Search Toolbar for IE. You can configure which folders get indexed, which document types are indexed, and even where the search results index is stored if you'd like. Most astonishingly, you can specify a non-MSN search engine for Web searches. So if you want to use this tool but prefer Google for Web searches, you're good to go.

Performance has also been improved somewhat dramatically. Windows Desktop Search now performs an initial index of your hard drive much more quickly and then consumes fewer resources while running.

MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search will run on Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and is free, according to MSN representatives I spoke with last week. A corporate version of the tool is coming later this year as well.

One key feature that MSN had added late in the beta was tabbed browsing for Internet Explorer (IE). That feature, however, is not in the version MSN shipped publicly today. "Tabbed browsing is a great feature, and every is very excited about it," Larry Grothaus, the Lead Product Manager for MSN Marketing told me. "But we didn't have enough time to test it, and we wanted to get Windows Desktop Search out. We will deliver tabbed browsing in the next couple of weeks as an add-on for the Toolbar." Grothaus noted that the tabbed browsing feature will be available on the MSN Add-ins Web site, which launched this morning. I was able to test the tabbed browsing feature for a few weeks and found that it worked exactly as you'd expect.

My review of MSN Search Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search will be available soon on the SuperSite for Windows. This week, I'll also be providing an in-depth look at the recent changes at the MSN division at Microsoft and examine how it became one of the most highly-charged and exciting parts of the company. These are heady times for MSN: Once lost adrift in failed strategies surround traditional online services and Web-based content, the MSN division is now spearheading some of Microsoft's key strategies.

Sounds good no Mac bragging and no yawning. Oh Oh you meant the article. oh well that was good too. Except the Longhorn late again Part.

I've been getting login dialog boxes on this site. If you are a Firefox user download AdBlock Plus 0.5.6 here: http://www.extensionsmirror.nl/index.php?showtopic=774 And add: "https://secure.windowsitpro.com/" To your list of filters. Login boxes gone :)

Hey, thanks, "Anonymous User"! Those login boxes on Firefox were driving me nuts.

Unfortunately, it requires the ever-insecure and buggy IE to operate. Such a shame.

I'm using IE and I get the login boxes. Nice job microsoft. Free desktop search. Sure beats paying $130 to get that.

Sounds great. Windows users win again. Mac users on the other hand had to shell out $150.00 to get the same widget disguised as a "new" operating system. When I think of all those Apple users shelling out that kind of money for a handful of widgets only the words "sad" and "pathetic" come to mind.

"Mac users on the other hand had to shell out $150.00 to get the same widget disguised as a "new" operating system. When I think of all those Apple users shelling out that kind of money for a handful of widgets only the words "sad" and "pathetic" come to mind." $150? I paid $75, and it was a hell of a lot more than just Spotlight. Tiger retails for $120 and offers massive system improvements in speed, development APIs, and user functionality. My new apps all take advantage of CoreImage and CoreData. Hell, you must be mad because you don't even have basic hardware-accelerated windowing yet or resolution independent vector-based graphics. Have fun waiting another two years to get it--I've had it since 2002. In the meantime, go ahead and install "MSN Search Toolbar" for IE (snicker). "OS X is simply better than Windows. Especially for power users." - Paul Thurrott

my favorite thing is when windows users, still running in their spyware-ridden admin accounts, try to portray Tiger as a minor upgrade that's overpriced. it's all they have left meanwhile, theirs is the operating system of Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows ME, and Windows XP. All windowdressing releases. windows 2000 was the only actual good one. WinXP Pro retails for what, $200? I get more functionality in OS X 10.2 Jaguar from three years ago. OS X Tiger puts Mac computing five years ahead of what windows users are used to suffering through every day have fun shelling out more money for spyware, firewall, and anti-virus apps all sucking up CPU and memory in the background. on OS X, none of it is needed because it uses UNIX security foundations and has no open ports like windows xp does suckers...haha. two more years of windows xp and you'll finally get the featureset os x tiger offers today

Come on, guys...I'm a Mac user, but I don't want to see another tired debate. You all say the same things over and over. Neither side is convinced. Truthfully, Mac users know Windows doesn't suck 100%, and Windows users know Macs tend to dictate where Microsoft goes next. That doesn't make either one suck. With people dying all over the world, what a pointless thing to care about.

Windows users when talking about Macs: "Mac hardware sucks! PowerPC sucks and is slower than my overclocked AMD chip. Thank god for x86!" Windows users when talking about X-Box 360: "PowerPC rocks! It's faster and generates less heat than x86. Thank god for PowerPC! I'm just going to ignore that Microsoft's X-Box 2 dev kits are Apple Powermacs G5s, and that all of Microsoft's X-Box 2 demos were running on Powermac G5s..."

I've used this MSN Search toolbar, and it has nowhere near the system integration that Spotlight has. You can write custom file format importers for Spotlight and integrate it directly into your app, ala the way Mail does. I have several Smart Folders that automatically organize my mail for me--no need to create "rules" like in Outlook or Entourage. Tiger also adds extended metadata attribute support to the filesystem, so that means arbitrary file annotation is not far off. This means you'll be able to add your own custom fields of data to a file, so for instance, I can add a "Project" field to something and give it a value of "Codename Orange." Then in Spotlight I'll be able to search for anything with a Project value of Codename Orange. This metadata will be stored directly in the filesystem attributes for the file, so these attributes stay with the file whereever you move them (unless you move to a Windows filesystem, of course). As I understand it, WinFS is supposed to provide this functionality way off in 2008. We'll see if Longhorn approaches today's level of functionality in Spotlight, or if it simply ties into MSN Search Toolbar technology via ActiveX through the Explorer windows or something.

"I'm using IE and I get the login boxes. Nice job microsoft. Free desktop search. Sure beats paying $130 to get that." haha, so you're saying windows xp is good enough now that it has an IE desktop search plugin? all the other things wrong with windows magically go away? clearly, you're a windows kid who has never actually used os x tiger. it blows windows away in every department. paul thurrot himself agrees: "OS X is simply better than windows." have fun clicking Next, Next, Next, Next, to install and remove things, writing things to your registry and slowing your system down. i just drag and drop, ROFL. oh, and gotta love those admin accounts you run in just to get things to work. spyware authors LOVE that you are a windows fan and continue to use it. please, keep doing so

"Nice job microsoft. Free desktop search. Sure beats paying $130 to get that." Whenever I see posts like this, I sense a deep inferiority complex at play, with the poster trying to put on a brave face while he knows that the other team is really better. Look, I'm a Mac user and I got "OS X". I think it's a great operating system. But I'm not going to proselytize you. If you are happy with Windows, great. In fact I don't even want Apple to become the #1 computer company, because if that were to happen then there would be much less incentive for Apple management to keep their prices competitive. We would be back to the Sculley-era. Finally, concerning the price of software including OS upgrades, remember that Bill Gates didn't become the richest man in the world by giving things away for free. You will pay a lot for a Longhorn upgrade, if and when it ever comes out. It may be bundled into the price you pay for a new computer or maybe you'll buy it separately, but either way I guarantee you'll be shelling out quite a few bucks for it. Those programmers in Redmond with all their nice cars and houses don't work for free, you know.

"Tiger also adds extended metadata attribute support to the filesystem, so that means arbitrary file annotation is not far off. " Yeah, I read about that stuff, it was added to support ACLs but the result is arbitrary file tagging. I look forward to tagging all my files and organizing them entirely with Smart Folders. This is apparently what Longhorn wants to do two years from now (for instance, there won't be a "My Documents" folder anymore, instead it will be named "Documents" like in OS X and will be a virtual folder). Amazing to think the support already exists in OS X Tiger today. Maybe Apple will enable it in an update to Spotlight.

Hotbar just installed itself on a co-worker's computer. This is with Microsoft's "secure" SP2 installed, firewall enabled, and even Norton Iinternet Security running. I got to have fun clicking off popups and removing registry entries (because, of course, uninstalling it doesn't work properly). God, Windows sucks. My iBook is the only thing keeping me sane as the IT guy for a Windows network.

"Look, I'm a Mac user and I got "OS X". I think it's a great operating system. But I'm not going to proselytize you. If you are happy with Windows, great. In fact I don't even want Apple to become the #1 computer company, because if that were to happen then there would be much less incentive for Apple management to keep their prices competitive. We would be back to the Sculley-era." Quite true, friend. Also agree with what you say about pricing--Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, ME, and XP were minor updates charged at full price. Longhorn is going to cost a lot--and you'll have to buy a new PC to run it at full efficiency. This is on purpose to help out hardware manufacturers who signed a deal to sell Microsoft Windows and are seeing sales slowing down. The industry is playing people to ensure its own survival and make sure it keeps making money off you.

Desktop search? Wow, Windows users! Congratulations on catching up to what Mac users had back in 1998 with Sherlock's volume indexing service! Go, Microsoft innovation!

Spotlight works much like MSN's? Not a chance ... Apple has had an integrated search system that indexed local hard drives, server volumes, and the internet itself since 1998 with Sherlock in Mac OS 8.5. Apple's new Spotlight, built-into Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger isn't some bolted on hack like MSN and the other search hacks. With Spotlight, when you make a change, such as adding a new file, receiving an email or entering a new contact, Spotlight updates its index automatically, so search results are always up-to-the-moment accurate. Changes don't have to wait to be indexed in order to show up in search results correctly.

Hotbar just installed itself on a co-worker's computer. This is with Microsoft's "secure" SP2 installed, firewall enabled, and even Norton Iinternet Security running. ------- WTF?! Wow.. Wouldn't it be cool to see that thing tossed out the window of a 20-storey building. God PC's suck s**t.

One word: iTunes Anyone wanna ***** that Apple decided to copy an ancient OS like Windows should do their homework. Fast search was integral to iTunes and that search engines been spread throughout the OS, and is available to developers as a plugin. This is well-documented.. Of course, if you wanna listen to MS re-writing history, go ahead.

"have fun clicking Next, Next, Next, Next, to install and remove things, writing things to your registry and slowing your system down. i just drag and drop, ROFL." Oh, I see. It wasn't just spotlight that you get for free with Windows but also installing products without hitting the next button a few times. MMmmm, $130 makes alot more sense now. ROFL!

Apple Macs are great if you like paying top dollar for 40 Gig Harddrives doing 5400 rpm. "Hot!" or should I say "Rip-off!"

--"Desktop search? Wow, Windows users! Congratulations on catching up to what Mac users had back in 1998 with Sherlock's volume indexing service!"-- So, you are telling us that Mac OS made a fulltext index on PDF files and metadata on images since 1998? Sorry, but that only got into Mac OS in 10.4 The Windows index service could make PDF fulltext search since quite some time, but noone used it, because the index service took CPU power. I don't know why everyone is bragging about these search features right now, maybe because PCs and Macs are overpowered for most office tasks anyway, so they can do that in the background without the user noticing it.

"I have several Smart Folders that automatically organize my mail for me--no need to create "rules" like in Outlook or Entourage." Outlook 2003 also has this Smart folder feature.

"I have several Smart Folders that automatically organize my mail for me--no need to create "rules" like in Outlook or Entourage." Outlook 2003 also has this Smart folder feature. _ Yes, but Outlook smart folder only work within Outlook. OS X smart folder is system wide. I can create a smart folder full of email, contacts, images, docs, and mp3s that all belong to one person.

What a joke. I can search two of my windows hard drives, over the network, with SPOTLIGHT more faster then i can with IE crapbar.

"What a joke. I can search two of my windows hard drives, over the network, with SPOTLIGHT more faster then i can with IE crapbar." It's not an IE crapbar...It's a desktop search that operates very simularily to spotlight. You can type strait into ur taskbar and results come AS YOU TYPE just as spotlight. you can open up the exploror view in which u can see the first page of the document your searching. It organizes into music, files, documents, pictures, videos. You can specify which place on ur hardrive that the desktop search indexes. It produces INSTANT RESULTS just like spotlight. Longhorn will further enhance this experiance.

let me try this one more time. I can use my mac(spotlight) to search my files on my windows computer faster then desktop search.

"let me try this one more time. I can use my mac(spotlight) to search my files .. " Sure you can. Sometimes people consciously or unconsciously "fail" too. It's amazing how Linux users simply can't get things to work with Windows when evrybody else can etc. etc. They actually *want* the Windows machine to fail so it almost magically does. As if they didn't play a big part in it. Anyway you don't exactly explain what you mean. You have your whole Windows computer opened up on your LAN or what? You have your Mac searches your x86 - how are you doing that?

"Longhorn will further enhance this experiance. " Please, guys, no more claims of what you think Longhorn may or may not be able to do IF and when it ever arrives. Not even Bill Gates knows what else may have to be thrown overboard in order for Longhorn to make the promised schedule of shipping by the end of 2006, so how can you? Right now Longhorn is vaporware. Therefore, trying to base arguments on what you think it may have is meaningless. If you like extolling the benefits of something non-existent like Longhorn to people, then you are probably the type of person who spends a lot of time on web sites engaged in arguments over whether phasers or disruptor beams are a better weapon.

"let me try this one more time. I can use my mac(spotlight) to search my files on my windows computer faster then desktop search. " Um seing how both spotlight and desktop search are the same thing, i fail to see ur argument. I hope u mean windows desktop search vs. spotlight. I assume that u tested windows desktop search with spotlight and compared the 2. They both use similar indexing services to achieve the fast search. And can you please explain how u managed to search a windows hardrive with spotlight? They both produce instant results. So far i fail to see how spotlight is different.

They both use similar indexing services to achieve the fast search ---- similar.. hrmmmm.. did you get a degree in Marketing or something?

Yet again, Paul looks at the window dressing (if you pardon the pun) instead of the underlying technology. He really should stop trying to compare OSX and Windows and at least read John Seracuse's Ars Technica review of how Spotlight works before spouting any more rubbish equating MSN's Search Toolbar or Google's Desktop Search with Spotlight. Hint: Spotlight isn't just an indexing service or search tool. It's galling that this idiot is allowed to make comparisons between OSs when he shows a blatant disregard for research. If he continues to spread this kind of misinformation about well documented and reported features in OSX, it makes you wonder from which spirit medium he conjures up his Windows info. Please Paul, do both the Windows and Mac community a favour and give up with the comparisons.

"Hint: Spotlight isn't just an indexing service or search tool. " Um spotlight IS a search tool that uses indexing. If instant file searching isn't searching, then i guess i need to open the old dictionary and start studying my vocab.

I just tried it and I didn't like it. The user interface is overloaded and very confusing. I think the UI should be simpler. The program might work okay but it's ugly. I use Google desktop search and it's MUCH better. Very simple to use UI and works just fine. I haven't tried spotlight but I've tried OS X. It works fine but I personally(my opinion) don't like the UI. Having one menu bar shared by all programs is unnecessary (why did they do that). The graphics are too futuristic. The UI is less customizable than windows. I also don't like the one-button mouse.

>The graphics are too futuristic roflol, you mean like every version of windows looks like a five year older version of macos?

candid impressions from a windows user: I haven't tried spotlight but I've tried OS X. (okay so you haven't tried Tiger..which is a huge improvement over their 2003 OS, Panther.) It works fine but I personally(my opinion) don't like the UI. Having one menu bar shared by all programs is unnecessary (Unnecessary? It shows you which program is running/selected. It allows the programs themselves to assume any form while the commands will always be easily accessible to the user. Check out WMP for reasons why the 'one menu bar' thing is sweet. MS tries to hide it's multiple menu bars.. gulp.) The graphics are too futuristic. (I wake up in the middle of the night longing for 8-bit computing myself. Tres retro.) The UI is less customizable than windows. (that's totally true.. windows allows you to mess around with EVERYTHING. quite literally. IT guys love this. helps put food on the table.) I also don't like the one-button mouse. (are we still talking about the OS? Apple is trying to cater to left handed people too, maybe. Who knows. mac users have been CTRL-clicking since the 90's... two button mice, and all peripherals for that matter, are a snap on the mac. plug it in. that's it.)

Yes, the graphics of the Mac are too polished - like photos all the time. A bit annoying. And that taksbar at the bottom takes up too much space and when one puts the pointer over them they balloon in size. Kewl at first but annoying after ten minutes - gimmiky. Add to that that one knows the Apple a hardware is second-rate and add on top of that that Apple charges mega bucks for the yearly service pack and the word phrase "big rip-off" comes to mind. Let's face it. Apple is basically slow hardware combined with an old OS originally designed for clunky mainframes in the 1960s plus which they charge top dollar for yet won't even supply service packs. I'm sticking with x86/64 and Windows thank you very much.

"Yes, the graphics of the Mac are too polished - like photos all the time. A bit annoying. And that taksbar at the bottom takes up too much space and when one puts the pointer over them they balloon in size. Kewl at first but annoying after ten minutes - gimmiky." As for the taskbar, you can customize it to suit your tastes. If you don't like it on the bottom, you can put it on the left side of the screen or the right side. Also, you can make it disappear and only appear when you want. Finally, you can reduce the amount of size ballooning or even turn off the effect. As for your comment " the graphics of the Mac are too polished", I can only smile.

"Add to that that one knows the Apple a hardware is second-rate and add on top of that that Apple charges mega bucks for the yearly service pack and the word phrase "big rip-off" comes to mind." The "service packs" that you mention are feature upgrades, and should not be confused with the bug fixes that Microsoft euphemistally calls "service packs". Over the past few years, those Mac OS feature upgrades have enabled the Mac OS to clearly trounce MS Windows as the world's best personal computer operating system, or haven't you noticed what's been happening? You may not have been paying Microsoft recently for service packs, but on the other hand you haven't been getting anything much more than bug fixes either. I'll bet that my old lab computer running Windows 2000NT has essentially the same OS features as the computer you're using now. And, quick, how many years old is Windows 200NT?

Great enhancement for Windows and free. Even works for Windows 2000 users. Apple has a great OS but they serve a niche market and always will. Their market strategy intentionally left me adrift as an OS X 10.1.5 user, with no support from Apple at all and very little from third-party software developers. I would have had to shell out $450.00 plus tax by now to have stayed current with what amounts to incremental, not revolutionary changes in the OS. Now, as far as the flock of Mac "Boo Birds" that seem to hang out here: Why don't you act like adults, enjoy your choice and acknowledge that Windows is the OS standard of the world for the forseeable future, and an excellent one at that.

"Too polished" as in "ugly" or "inappropriate" or as in "show-off". Windows XP has quite a number of features that Windows 2000 does not have. The latest Service pack added even more. The Security Centre being just one of them. But note, even my second computer bought for almost nnothing has a much faster processor and much faster and larger harddrive than the latest Mac costing double. And with my x86 I have a choice on any number of DOS, UNIX, LINUX and Windows varients that I can run it with (and then some). And just about every piece of hardware out there will work with it. Apple on the other hand is shucking off systems with slow harddrives, slow processors, second-rate graphics as supposedly high end stuff and charging top dollar for it. And on top of that it sells the old UNIX OS as its somehow its own [and it is very much not]. PLUS, everytime an Apple user turns around they have to upgrade for mega bucks yet all they get for it is a few poorly engineered widgets. Sad, pathetic really. So little software too. All the goodies are written for Windows. And to put icing on the cake, the Apple experience is so boring with its slow equipment and lack of software and an uncustomizable version of UNIX that they end up hanging out at www.winsuperstie.com and windowsitpro just so they can hear about life with fast processor and great graphics and real choice in software titles. I'd have contempt if I wasn't so full of pity for the Apple user.

First off "And on top of that it sells the old UNIX OS as its somehow its own [and it is very much not": BSD UNIX is software in the public domain. Second "The Security Centre being just one of them." May I ask what that does, and why my Mac would need it? Thats not fair. Recently I got virus software from my school, they wanted me to install it to use there network. I went ahead and scanned my PowerBook. I was stunned to find i had one, MyDoom. A little freaked out i went and looked it up, turns out it runs only on a p.c. and a friend had sent it to me in an email. "PLUS, everytime an Apple user turns around they have to upgrade for mega bucks yet all they get for it is a few poorly engineered widgets." To that i say, true, apple could have sat on there *** and done nothing after X, but then Windows might catch up this decade. As a bit of an aside, for about 80 Canadian I got way more than a pretty little search thing. I got a operating system designed for my 64 bit computer. Its hard for all you p.c. users out there but imagine, an operating system that works, with your computer. "So little software too. All the goodies are written for Windows." I really am missing out, I mean what will i ever do with out the 8 trillion versions of solitaire. But, Im reminded of the quote i heard a while back "what good is it to drive on all the roads if the 5% your can drive on get you there faster [and with less effort]?" "to put icing on the cake," and i mean what good is the cake with out the icing eh?. i mean my icing includes a dual 2.5 ghz 64 bit chips, dual 250gb 7200RPM, 2GB of PC3200U-30330 RAM, GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, DVD Burner, digital audio in/out, Built in Wireless and I mean on top of all that (total crap im sure) there is that screen. I mean if the system wasn't "boring" and "slow" then I mean a 30" LCD with over 4 million pixels in it, damn I'm near asleep. I mean at the end of the day, when my computer just works, pity me then, please.

You know, i wouldn't mind Mac os so much..If it wouldn't kill Apple to add a f%^&$g second button and a scroll wheel to their stupid ugly mice. Don't give me that crap that u can use them already.They should come standard. A one button mouse is ancient crap. Mac hardware is better for some things, (read video) granted, but you're paying more for this specialization. I have both, but i find that the Windows OS despite its long list of stupid faults, is easier to manage than the clumsy OSx. Both are good for certain things, so stop whining and do your work..

"Windows XP has quite a number of features that Windows 2000 does not have..(blah, blah, blah)...And just about every piece of hardware out there will work with it. ...(blah, blah, blah).....PLUS, everytime an Apple user turns around they have to upgrade for mega bucks.....(blah, blah, blah).... All the goodies are written for Windows. ...(blah, blah, blah).....I'd have contempt if I wasn't so full of pity for the Apple user." Question: Windows or OS X Tiger: Which is the best personal computer operating system in the world right now? Touche! Viva Apple!

"Too polished" as in "ugly" or "inappropriate" or as in "show-off". Oh, I see now. So to you "too polished" is actually a bad thing. In that case, I'm sure you'll agree with me if I say that the Windows interface is really unpolished.

Too Late Microsoft, I'm sticking with Google Desktop, and I am not going back to IE either.

The ol' bait and switch, eh?. One has to shell out thousands to get a Mac rig like you described. The basic Mac, on the other hand, is well .. pathetic. The harddrives does only 5400 rpm. Sad how you Mac users squirm when faced with the truth. Someday you may see 3 GHz, but more likely than not you will only see it when you switch to X86/64 And Apple's OS, copied from the UNIX world [Mac OS X is innovation NOT] doesn't run X86. I wonder if OS X will ever run a computer at over 3GHz. Maybe if you really get into deep overclocking using refrigerators and liquid nitro cooling .. Anyway, a desktop search does not make a new OS. It's a littel widget thrown in to make you *think* you are getting a new OS. BTW, why are you still here? Doesn't your Apple Macs excite you so much you're off and away? Guess not. The truth of the matter is that Macs, slow as they are, are boring. Overdone icon graphics just don't hold one's attention for too long. So it's off to winsupersite.com and windowsitpro.com to hear exciting stories about 3GHz and beyond. When one has a Mac one can dream eh? Or is it when one has a Mac one HAS to dream because that's all one's got! Ha ha ha

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars this shows that windows user do not know anything, are stupid, and like to take it in the ar$$. OS X is more then just widgets. When will you windows users see that longhorn is just GUI on top of XP, thats on top of 2000, thats on top of NT4. you if you read all of it you get a cookie.

Actually, Windows 2000 wasn't so much "on top of" Windows NT 4.0 as much as it was a rewrite. Performance of Windows 2000 a *great* improvement over Windows NT 4.0. A heck of a lot was added to the OS too. Windows XP, on the other hand, is sort of "on top of" Windows 2000. But hey, why not? On the right hardware you can get dot quadruple nine uptimes with it ( 99.9999 % of the year uptime on average ). Furthermore, Windows 2000 is high performance beating many UNIX varients hands done at many tasks. A lot of work went into Service Pack 2 for WinXP. Microsoft work for ages on it. It has several new features, bug fixes, and supports a whole new range of devices and hardware, yet was given away. Far cry from how some other decidely fruity company we needn't name handles its service releases. And Windows Server was hugely rewritten. And Microsoft work very hard on its Service Pack 1. They even moved the TCPIP stack into the Kernel - it has *very* fast Network and Internet performance. Performance you just don't see on Apples and that Apples will never match. The "secret" is the Windows Server Std. e.d makes a great desktop! Heck, it's locked down too. You'd pretty much have to ask for a virus and deliberately install it yourself in order to get one with that OS. In contrast, Apple's security-by-obscurity is just a disaster waiting to happen. And again need we mention that Apple calls its services releases "new operating systems" and charges for them? BTW what are you Apple people doing here anyway? Isn't your stupid $130.00 Spotlight good enough for you?

Stop saying that tiger is a major update. Tiger is version 10.4 and the previous one was 10.3 ahahahahahaha. Do you see how major it is? Windows is an industry-wide platform. There's tons of hardware and software available for it. Apple is only one company that provides the hardware and most of the software. That's why Apple will never penetrate into mainstream computing and never have a high market share. It doesn't matter how good they are.

Why does everyone talk about security-by-obscruity. Apple doesn't rely on this. Apple always releases any security update with in a timely manner, unlike windows. And non of those holes led to any sort of disaster, unlike windows. Yeah like people are going to spend $700 on a OS. As for service releases, if u bother to read the link posted above, you will see that EVERY version of OS X has come with new features/updates/programs that warrants the write to be called a new operating system. Why are we here? We don't have to update AV/spyware/update tuesday on our system. = )

wow it seems that with this there's an unusual number of mac fanboy flames. I guess this defeately shut them up.

Both Apple and Linux is security by obscurity. Neither have had to fight the hot fires of thousands of delbirate attacks. Neither. Only Windows has fought the fight. Install Windows XP SP2 and especially Windows Server SP1. You are *very* unlikely to get a virus, despite the hothell of attacks out there, unless your computing behaviour is *real* dumb. I got one virus on Windows back in 2001 on a machine running Windows 2000 with IIS 5 installed. I deliberately ignored a patch Microft said I should install. I got a virus. But,I mean, can you really blame Microsoft? I ignored their warning. But that's the only virus ever caught by any computers under my watch. It would be very hard to catch a virus with WinServer SP1. It's pretty much locked down by default. One would pretty much have to install it oneself. Apple however is untried and can't be said to be true. It hasn't had 40,000 attacks designed against it. Its creators just do not know what its real vulnerabilities are. It is simply a disaster waiting to happen. Windows, on the other hand, is hardened. You install Server or even WinXPSP2 and you know you have a system that has be built by people who have fought the fight. If you catch a virus it pretty is much your own fault for installing it yourself.

Blah Blah Blah Windows sucks..MAC sucks...Linux sucks.. This thread sucks..sucking sucks... God!! Can anyone say anything insightful??

"I got one virus on Windows back in 2001 on a machine running Windows 2000 with IIS 5 installed. I deliberately ignored a patch Microft said I should install. I got a virus. But,I mean, can you really blame Microsoft? I ignored their warning." You seem to be playing to the Microsoft line that worm and virus infections are the fault of people who don't bother to install patches in a timely manner. But this really isn't a realistic view, as evidenced by the hilarious episode in which Microsoft itself found its computers infected because their own system administrators did not stay up to date on patches. (http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/archives/001524.html)

Actually, it only gives credit to the statement that one should take one`s own medicine so to speak. Some of the people at Microsoft made the same mistake I did: neglecting to patch. Yeah, it`s sort of funny. But the incident underscores the maliciousness Microsoft is up against. But it is realistic. When running computers and someone discovers a security vulnerability and there`s a patch, the patch should be applied. And that goes for any of the systems out there - Apple`s OS X, the Linux distros and Windows.

Desktop search?! Way to copy Apple, again. toptechnews.com/news/Microsoft--Trying-To-Keep-Up-with-Apple-/story.xhtml?story_id=10200ACV24N0

No - Desktop Search is more like a way to copy Google and all the others which had it out ages ago. Apple is *well* behind the desktop curve these days! It's actually the likes of Microsoft and Google that at are at the forefront.

I have to say I was impressed when using this tool. I study a computer science degree, and the PDF plugin for WDS was a lifesaver for me- the PDF files containing the search query text listed on the left, with a preview (all though fully functional adobe reader) in the right pane. Very handy indeed, considering I have 100 PDF files containing revision notes. Thanks MS. I cant really think of many flaws for WDS- a lot of popular file plugins have already been written, and more expected. I think the interface is a little gaudy, and would look better without the windows explorer toolbars, but on the whole, 0.2seconds to find a quote from 100 PDFs is good enough for me :). The only other thing I dont like is the fact the desktop search on the taskbar always resizes to double if I use WMP mini mode, then close it. TLB

I have tried installing it, but I'm not getting the installation changes the reviews report. Where do I get to pick which toolbars install? Where during installation do I specify what folders to index? It's a really cool feature, but I don't care for the toolbars in IE, for example. I only want the desktop one.