MSN Planning to Take on Google? 677
asyn42 writes "CNet is reporting what should be no surprise, Microsoft appears to be readying itself to take on Google for a position as the top search engine. The long range impact on the relationship between MSN and Yahoo/Inktomi is likely at risk."
Accurate results (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Good Luck! (more MSN searching history) (Score:5, Informative)
Competition is increasing for Google (Score:2, Informative)
This is a lot of strange bedfellows. Google has been Yahoo's search provider, and Inktomi has been a longtime Microsoft provider. The musical chairs reinforce the notion that the act of searching isn't the key value of a search engine anymore.
Re:All I can say is (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Microsoft vs. Google (Score:4, Informative)
Google API (Score:5, Informative)
I bet that MS would not offer that, or maybe a
Google is more than just a search engine.
Re:Have you looked at the search options in IE? (Score:2, Informative)
Not sure if this still works, or if I'm misremembering. I'll have to dig through my notes and see.
Re:All I can say is (Score:4, Informative)
AltaVista
Google
Ask Jeeves
Fast
DirectHit
Excite
GoTo
NorthernLi
Yahoo
I, of course, have it perform the search on Google.
If MSDN's search is any indication... (Score:4, Informative)
Half the time, I get JScript 'Out of Memory' errors or NO results from my searches...
Long live Google!
Found it (Score:5, Informative)
The registry key that has this (on 2k) is: \HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search . There are 2 keys here - Customize Search & Search Assistant. Both of them point to http://ie.search.msn.com/...
Now, I can't find the address you're supposed to change the references "to" (as in, at google), but that's where to change it "from".
Re:true (Score:4, Informative)
And the default search engine in IE, anyone?
Turn it off... (Score:5, Informative)
or change the default [pcmag.com] to something other than Microsuck.
[sarcasm]
It's actually quite simple: [/sarcasm]
Re:All I can say is (Score:1, Informative)
Laugh now, but... (Score:2, Informative)
A lot of posts are arguing that Google is too well-entrenched, too effective and too smart to ever fail. Consider these points.
1) Google is entrenched. Yes, "google" has become synonymous with "internet search." But does that really mean people would never use anything else? Just because your mom uses "google" as a verb does not necessarily mean that she's a big fan of Google. More likely, she's just using the search engine, and its name, because everyone else does.
Don't assume that the non-geek masses would make any fuss about "googling" something through a different search engine. After all, most of us call facial tissues "kleenex" regardless of the manufacturer. Hell, in some parts of America, people refer to all pop (soda) as "Coke."
2) Google is effective. Sure, it's effective. But is the effectiveness really so great that no one else can come up with a substitute which is adequate, at least for the average user? Be honest, Google-fans, when was the last time you even used another search engine? Do people continue to praise Google's effectiveness on the basis of actual comparisons, or simply because "Google = best search engine" has become conventional wisdom? (And I don't believe that would be enough to protect Google, either, given that "google" has become generic enough that a lot of people might think they are "googling" regardless of which search engine they use. Think about how many people believe that their web browser is "AOL.")
I wonder how much of Google's popularity is actually due to its lack of visual clutter. The spartan layout is nice on its own merits, but because it presents information in a clean, efficient manner, I suspect that people are also more willing to believe that the results are efficient as well. If Microsoft can make a search function that is built into Windows, it could challenge Google's transparency and no-brainer ease of use.
3) Google is smart. The people at Google are clever, but I'm not sure anyone is too smart to make a critical mistake that Microsoft can take advantage of. After all, Microsoft has ready access to the vast majority of computer desktops, and many billions of dollars in cash that they are willing to spend in order to buy dominance in new markets.
Google isn't infallible. Remember the usenet fiasco? They angered a lot of people with that. Most of whom have forgiven and forgotten since, but odds are good that at some point, Google will make another big mistake. Or perhaps just a series of small ones. In any event, Microsoft can afford to wait for that to happen, and has a lot of experience in taking advantage of rivals' slip-ups.
I read something here on
Google Toolbar. (Score:5, Informative)
khtml rocks (Score:2, Informative)
A few more complex sites dont work and the odd site doesn't let you in until you fake the user agent, but it's come on leaps and bounds since 2.0.
Integration in longhorn? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Found it (Score:5, Informative)
REGEDIT4
l orer\Main]
l orer\SearchURL]
p lorer\Search]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\InternetExp
"Use Search Asst"="no"
"Search Page"="http://www.google.com"
"Search Bar"="http://www.google.com/ie"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\InternetExp
""="http://www.google.com/keyword/%s"
"provider"="gogl"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InternetEx
"SearchAssistant"="http://www.google.com/ie"
Re:Google will only die if... (Score:2, Informative)
Stop fighting against the MSDN search engine, it's a waste of time. Download the Platform SDK [microsoft.com] (install only the documentation if you already have a developement environment, like Delphi or MinGW, because the thing is huge. Note that, for some reason, even the full download requires IE - but with wget and enough perseverance you'll be able to work around that): most of the time you won't even need to use the search - the keyword index is faster and straight to the point
If you need something that isn't in a downloadable SDK documentation pack, use Google. You know it's better, so why waste your time with the Microsoft search engine?
Why google works for me (Score:3, Informative)
I'm a geek. I search for "ant" on MSN [msn.com], it talks about insects, but the first category mentioned, and the 4th link on Google [google.com] is for the java build tool. I search for "ruby" on MSN [msn.com] I get precious stones, I search on Google [google.com] and both the 1st category and the 1st search result are the programming language. I search for "lint" and MSN [msn.com]'s search results are mostly about the stuff that you find in your belly button; Google [google.com]'s results are mostly about program validation.
I don't know which one is "better" but the results from Google match what I'm looking for. The ones on MSN don't.
Re:Google is my god (Score:0, Informative)