untangling_the_web

DID: 4046925
UNCLASSIFIEDNFOR OFFISIAb b18i ONLY
Windows Live Search
MSN Search is no more. As of mid-September 2006, Windows Live Search was out
of beta and officially supplanted MSN Search. It came as a surprise to no one that
the new Live Search has the familiar clean, uncluttered look popularized by Google.
Live marks a clear change in Microsoft's overall direction from a multipurpose portal
to a search service: "Live.com is now first and foremost a search destination,"
according to Christopher Payne, Microsoft's corporate vice president/"
The question on everyone's mind is whether or not Live Search is any better than
MSN Search or Google or Yahoo or any number of other search engines. Thus far,
Live is not noticeably superior to MSN Search, but it is a one of the top three largest
and most powerful US-based search engines.
The new Windows. Live Search:
~ uses its own database for web search.
~ indexes at least 5 billion pages.
~ offers cached links with the date Microsoft estimates the page was last
updated (usually the date the Microsoft spider last crawled the page);
sometimes a date will appear next to the cached link on the results' page if
that page has recently been updated.
~ has a "Near Me" search option that only works in the US; it uses your IP
address to determine your location; users can override this location by
changing it on the Options page. Note that you cannot leave the default
location empty. If you do not enter a location, Live Search will default to
what it reads as your IP address's geolocation.
~ offers web, news, image, local, Q&A, academic, feeds, video, products, and
new "build your own" searches.
~ offers preference control via "options."
The "Search Builder" query customization tool has been replaced by the "Advanced"
option; as with "Search Builder" the Advanced option opens a little window beneath
the search form.
54 Chris Sherman, "Microsoft Upgrades Live Search Offerings," SearchEngineWatch, 12 September
2006, (5 October 2006).
118 UNCLASSIFIEDNFOR OFFISIAL I:JSE ONLY