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[Pochacco]

http://search.msn.com

Tour: http://www.imagine-msn.com/search/tour/moreprecise.aspx

February 1, 2005


Greetings,

I would like to introduce you to the new MSN Search service and MSN.com home page.

Based on your feedback, we have designed the new MSN.com home page to be faster, simpler, and more organized. We've also made MSN Search more precise and powerful, so you can quickly find the information you’re looking for.

Our mission at Microsoft is to use the power of software to solve our customers' toughest problems. Searching the Internet today is a challenge, and it is estimated that nearly half of customers' complex questions go unanswered. That's why we're proud of our new MSN Search service, a simple and powerful tool that helps you find the answers you want from sources as diverse as Web pages, images, news headlines, music downloads, and even files on your PC.

Input from millions of our customers - including me - was crucial to our efforts to make MSN Search the best it can be. If you have not already tried it, I encourage you to visit www.msn.com and type in your question. We'd love to hear what you think, and I promise that we will continue to improve MSN based on your feedback.
Sincerely,
Bill Gates

Hmm. Pretty clean interface. Results seem to be on par with Google.
I wonder if I should dump Google?

Also, from eWeek:

MSN holds a 16.5 percent share of U.S. Web searches, according to November data from comScore Networks Inc. Google leads with a 34.4 percent share, and Yahoo hold a 31.8 percent share.

That's surprising. I thought Google dominated web searches. Hrm.

With Yahoo and Google copying each other in EVERYTHING they do, MSN coming in and doing the same (they're planning desktop & media searchs, as well as a blog site..), this is bound to get really annoying.

-edit-
When I search for my full name in quotes, Google returns only 1 result...when I search with MSN Search, I get 2 results! The second being my personal website.
MSN likes me more...

 

[DarienA]

MSN holds a 16.5 percent share of U.S. Web searches, according to November data from comScore Networks Inc. Google leads with a 34.4 percent share, and Yahoo hold a 31.8 percent share.

Well I'm certainly not going to help MSN catch up.

 

[Sriram]

Im sure a large amount of searches through msn are from people using internet explorer which searches with msn using the address bar.

 

[Tarazet]

This is much nicer than I expected. It'll make a nice supplement when I'm using web searches for research...

 

[Jim Bowie]

I'm confused. You couldn't search on MSN before?

 

[jenov4]

I'm confused. You couldn't search on MSN before?

You could, but MSN used Yahoo's technology for the search results. This new one uses their own engine for that stuff.

I'll stick to Google anyways. Down with Microsoft!

 

[CaptainABAB]

There is one complaint I've had about the new msn search. If you do a search, select the "cached" version, it shows the cached copy but it doesn't highlight the search term(s) like Google does. This might be due to Google getting a patent on this "innovation".

Damn you Google, damn you to hell!

 

[Phoenix]

Google got it right first and I see no reason to stop using them. Besides which it integrates in Firefox

 

[Nerevar]

When I search for my full name in quotes, Google returns only 1 result...when I search with MSN Search, I get 2 results! The second being my personal website.
MSN likes me more...

I remember reading how Google was actually really far behind in some of it's web indexing. I think this was especially true with their google images search, although I could be wrong. Oh well, not lik eI'm going to stop using it.

 

[megateto]

Hmm. Pretty clean interface. Results seem to be on par with Google.
I wonder if I should dump Google?

I have just reied a search for Kung Fu Hustle subtitles, and I didn't get what I was looking (subtitles download sites).

So for me, it's a no no.

PD: What will I get if I try some MS programs serial numbers ?

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Google got it right first and I see no reason to stop using them. Besides which it integrates in Firefox

Lots of web site owners hate Google and see this as a chance to get a better a ranking

edit: the more I search this the more of an MSN whore I become

So far I think that MSN is doing a far better job for the public than Google... the results are fresh and they are relevant... I'm seeing a little less crap & a lot more relevance in the results. (less directories etc.)

 

[GG-Duo]

"google" + "ctrl" + "enter" is easier to type.

 

[goodcow]

"google" + "ctrl" + "enter" is easier to type.

"a9" + "ctrl" + "enter" is easier to type, uses google's results, has a nicer interface, and snags you 1.56% off at Amazon.com.

 

[Teddman]

Not bad. It pulled up some entirely different results from Google's on a few obscure searches.

 

[CaptainABAB]

I've had it set as my default home page for the last few months, as I got tired of the boring google page as my home page (which I've had for the past few years)

Some things to note:
- Under news, at the bottom of the page is a link "Read the News". This is their beta news bot.

- under the search term field, there is a button for Search Builder. I find this easier to use then Google's advanced search. It has another pretty cool feature... Results Ranking. You can adjust whether you want sites that have been updated recently or ones that are very popular or exactly match.

If you are analyzing why your site does not appear at the top of a web search, this helps a lot. Basically, you can use those sliders to determine whether your site is not at the top due to 1. not being updated a lot (Updated recently slider), 2. not enough sites link to you (popularity slider) or whether you have content that matches the criteria (exact matches)

 

[Tarazet]

The image search is powered by Picsearch.com, although I like MSN's layout better. It's good to be able to see the image URL along with the image.

 

[Phoenix]

So far I think that MSN is doing a far better job for the public than Google... the results are fresh and they are relevant... I'm seeing a little less crap & a lot more relevance in the results. (less directories etc.)

Google used to be the same way... until they started indexing most of the internet and building a business model based on search results. Directories and commerce engines will find their way into MSN search soon enough.