Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) 
made it official today, launching its own search engine -- MSN Search -- and jettisoning Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) , whose search technology it had been using. A redesigned MSN home page has been launched alongside the new search engine.
MSN Search, which Microsoft built from scratch, is available in 25 countries and 10 languages, but the software giant is still fighting an uphill battle, one analyst said.
"The prevalence of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is going to be difficult for Microsoft to catch
up with," Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter
Media, told TechNewsWorld. "Google is a verb in our lexicon and that's a
difficult thing to get around."
Tabbed Searching
The new engine offers tabs to limit searches to the Web, images, news, music and MSN's encyclopedia, Encarta. Encarta's premium service had previously carried a fee, but all information from the reference tool will now be available free, for two-hour sessions, through the search engine. Microsoft said available content will vary by market. Still in beta is MSN Toolbar Suite, a download that allows users to search their computers.
A test search for "Iraqi elections" found no great differences among the results in Google, MSN Search and Yahoo searches, but Gartenberg said Microsoft "seemed to have been focusing on answers to questions as opposed to pages of results." That, he said, may not be enough to distinguish it.
"To be successful, they're going to have to find ways to offer something Google doesn't," he said.
Calculated Move
But Andy Beal, vice president of search marketing at WebSourced Inc., said he thinks the similarity was deliberate.
"I believe this is an intentional play on MSN's part. They want to launch a search engine with results that, at least initially, are familiar to users of MSN Search. This will ensure that Microsoft does not alienate its users by launching a search engine that is radically different," Beal told TechNewsWorld.
Bill Gates appears today on the MSN home page, whose redesign makes the search engine more apparent, touting the new service. In an open letter, he describes the search as "faster, simpler and more organized," as well as "more precise and powerful."
Setting Criteria Importance
The search includes advanced tools that allow search customization through a menu with adjustable dials that fine-tune the criteria for which results to pull up first.
MSN also offers a local search -- "search near me" -- to limit results to a geographic area. Google and Yahoo also offer localized searching.
Competition benefits all search engine users, Beal said. "As the top search engines compete for market share, search engine users will be given greater features and a better product, something that could not have happened if Google had continued unchallenged," he said.
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