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Microsoft Simplifies Search Web Site
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Microsoft, seeking to play catch-up in a market where it admits
it's been late to the party, has launched a new version of its search
Web site with a simple interface that mimics rival Google Inc.
The redesigned Microsoft search Web site, is swept clean of the
mishmash of links and pictures, which can be distracting to the
user and mean that the site takes longer to load. Advertisement
The move comes amid Microsoft's aggressive, $100 million plans
to establish a stronger foothold in the field of search, where it
faces fierce competition from rivals including Google and Yahoo!
Inc.
Microsoft has previously announced plans to offer its own proprietary
technology that will take search beyond the Internet, allowing users
to pore through e-mails, personal computers and even big databases.
On Thursday, the company began offering a technical preview of
the Web-based portion of its system, for experts and hardcore search
enthusiasts.
The move came on the heels of rival Apple Inc.'s announcement that
its new operating system, code-named Tiger and due out next year,
will include a new search functions that lets people look for data
across different types of files.
Until Microsoft's own product is ready for mass consumption, the
company said it would offer an improved version of its current search
offering, powered by Yahoo! subsidiaries. The new system makes good
on Microsoft's previously announced pledge to separate paid search
results from those based purely on the relevancy of the requested
information.
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