Chicago - 8:24 pm on Jun 21, 2005 (gmt 0)

MSN spoke on the LS panel with me a few hours ago here in NO.

A Google like display.
Proximity Ranked.
Internet derived data. (way too much reliance on keywords in business name for ranking).
No user reviews or ratings.
No rich business profile content.

Looks to me like this is an opportunistic first step into the local search arena after Near Me failed to compel users.

We'll see - don't want to sound too pesimistic, but play around a little, nothing of much significance here other than a new segmented LS property from a major.

Welcome to LS MSFT.