Microsoft’s effort to crack the near monopoly of Google
"Our goal 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," Gates said in an official announcement, writes the Hindustan Times.
Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker, paid hundreds of people to test the MSN Internet search program over the past 11 weeks and to help engineers improve the results by ranking searches against market leader Google and No. 2 Yahoo!, vice president Yusuf Mehdi said Monday.
The company spent 18 months developing the program, which is now available at the msn.com site, and wants future versions to let users delve through video content and text from books, Mehdi said. By using its own software, instead of relying on other companies, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft can add functions that win over more users and help boost advertising revenue, informs Newsday.
As an example of how difficult it may be to get people to switch, a nationwide survey of search-engine users by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 87 percent have successful search experiences most of the time today, including 17 percent who said they always find the information for which they are looking.
Most of the features on Microsoft’s search engine are also available on competitors’ offerings. The company, however, has added a feature that uses the Microsoft Encarta digital encyclopedia to provide answers to questions, such as "who is Abraham Lincoln," as opposed to gathering results based on keywords.
Nevertheless, one important area Microsoft will have to catch up in is local search, a major focus of its competitors, particularly Yahoo.
Over the last six months, Yahoo has made significant improvements, including the addition of traffic information to its online local map service, reports Information Week.
