MSNBot vs. Google

How close is MSN to replicating Google?

[rolfewinkler]

I'm dying to know how far the MSN guys have gotten w/ their algorithm, and what their plans are for their search page regarding Looksmart, Oveture, and Inktomi.

Thanks

[dougmcc1]

Nobody but MSN could tell you that.

And I wouldn't expect to see the results of their new algo until Longhorn debuts.

[zeus]

If Microsoft is smart and a little mean, which they are, they will in there new windows Longhorn have a function where the user can from the desktop make a search on the net through msn and through the browser directly.

MSN will beat Google in the long run, because they have Browser and Windows software.

zeus

[dougmcc1]

MSN is starting the race late, in fact they aren't even in the race yet and they won't be until their bot starts producing their own results. There will be kinks that they'll have to work out not to mention anti-Microsoft sentiment.

And don't forget that Google is going to be progressing all the while. And when they go public, that'll buy Google even more time to fend off Microsoft (and Yahoo).

But yeah, I think gradually Microsoft will catch up in time. It took Google 5 years to get where they are. Will it take that long for Microsoft? I suspect it will take them even longer. And I don't think they will surpass Google as Google has surpassed everyone else. The industry will have 3-4 top search engines (4th being Teoma) instead of 1 top search engine.

[storevalley]

Haven't seen too much of MSNBot (once over the past couple of months). Anybody seen more concentrated activity from this fella?

[edit_g]

MSN will be ready when they think the time is right. They've thrown a lot of money at this problem and I have no doubt that soon we will be seeing a new crawler based player on the SE agenda.

[sidyadav]

I've heard MSNBot is a BIG project, so I don't think the SERP will be out for at least another year.

But I think it will lead the SE world because look at all the Microsoft Products: Windows, Word, Office , IE, Windows Media Player , MovieMaker , Picture It!, PowerPoint and Bla Bla Bla. They are all leading the world. That's why Msn could add their shortcut bars and stuff to Windows and IE, this will bring them visitors.

I know that Microsoft only releases a Product , if its Happy with it (Except for Windows ME) I think the current MSN Search (Inktomi results) is Bogus. You only get results in 100's and it doesn't capture a lot of text from the page, this is Because I think Microsoft was in a hurry or something, they didn't have time, so they decided to take Inktomi results, thats why it's not good because Microsoft didn't make it!

But though, I can't wait for a new Microsoft Product to be in the Web.

-Sid

[Chndru]

I can't wait for a new Microsoft Product to be in the Web.

who needs MS on the web? Web wud be much free and fast-driven w/o their all-conquering muscle.

[dougmcc1]

"who needs MS on the web?"
Who needed Google before they came along? :)

I'm not saying they are going to be the next Google, but I'm glad that MSN is stepping up the pressure. It means better search for all of us. If they top Google, I will be glad that there is such a good search engine available. Will I use it? Hell no :) I'll still use Google and hope they catch up again. I welcome Microsoft's competition but personally I'd love to see them get beat.

I know they will put out a good search engine eventually though. So if they don't beat Google, I'll be glad they put the pressure on Google to become that much better themselves.

[pleeker]

Gotta agree with dougmcc1 that the more competition drives everyone to make a better product, the better off we all are.

But for me the difference is this: Google has always been driven by Search. Microsoft has always been driven by Money.

What will be interesting and fun to watch is how much each company leans in the opposite direction down the road. Will going public force Google to focus on the bottom line ahead of the product? Will MSFT be willing to ignore the bottom line in order to develop a world-class search engine?

Google appears to be very far along the path to monetizing search without alienating its customers -- both its user/search customers and its business/advertiser customers.

MSFT's challenge will be to find that path and play catch up as quickly as they can.

[kmarcus]

MSFT is already a big player in terms of number of searches, so when they're ready, they're ready. they will probably have it well integrated into th eos (whichis why google is pushing their toolbar so much more now), and it's likely that with the discontinuation of IE, things like the google toolbar will need to be reworked in some fashion to function as they do today.

Ultimately their "time to catch up to anyone" is based around the PC upgrade cycle and the software upgrade cycle. If everyone moves/changes PC's and/or OS's every few years, ultimately they phase into their new software and phase out their old by eliminating certain backwards compatibilities. Consider the upgrdaes from office -- suddenly your office 2000 documents don't work on earlier versions of office unelss you save them differently -- you can get it to work, but only if you are paying atention at early adoption time.

[dougmcc1]

"when they're ready, they're ready"
Keep in mind they're currently working off of LookSmart and Inktomi listings. When MSN dumps them they'll have to depend solely on their own bot and I doubt they'll come out with a perfect algorithm on their first try. It'll need to be refined just like all the other SE's have had to refine theirs (and will keep refining while MSN is still in the process of creating).

But you know, if you think about it, their first algorithm won't NEED to be perfect. People won't care who's better as long as MSN is good enough and as easily accessible as we expect it to be.

That makes me wonder what Google is up to. You know they're thinking of ways to get around it. lol what if Linux started featuring Google Search from it's desktop? Google is all for free search, Linux is open source... or I wonder if the Google toolbar will be programmed to dock somewhere on the users screen instead of being integrated into IE. Also, you can already configure Windows to display certain webpages on your desktop. I wonder if Google will advertise something like this "Click here to add Google to your desktop". Any other ideas?

[dougmcc1]

A Google shortcut icon on the Quick Launch taskbar which pops up the Google search box. The user types in their keywords and submits, then the default Internet browser opens with the Google results (or results are displayed wherever the MSN results are).

[sidyadav]

That's a Good Idea, If anyone tell's Google to do this. I'm 99% sure , they'll do it.

[takagi]

Without giving specifics, Payne said Microsoft's research department is devoting significant resources to the company's search project.

"We think there's massive headroom left in this category. There are a lot of searches that can be better," said Payne, who added that search represents great revenue opportunities for Microsoft and its advertisers.

About 50 million unique users hit MSN with search queries each month, Payne said.

Microsoft Says It's Investing Heavily in Web Search [story.news.yahoo.com]

[storevalley]

I know that Microsoft only releases a Product , if its Happy with it

Microsoft are obviously easily pleased ... :)

[Compworld]

When it is all said and done, Microsoft will be the victor. There is also a very big possibility that MSFT would acquire either Google or Yahoo (or both... ack). No one company can stop Bill Gates. It has been tried countless times before, and no one has yet been able to knock the king off of their sector. Unless, the US DOJ breaks them up (I.E. Standard Oil, AT&T), no company will be able to stop the MSFT machine.

Got to face facts with facts. Bill Gates is a long term player. Under his and/or Ballmer's watch, the company lies low just until their competition thinks they cannot be beat, and then.. WAM! MSFT comes out of no where, and usually is undetected until it is to late. Google may be king now, but its hay day will end eventually once they are forced to go head to head with MSFT (I.E. Apple, IBM).

- CompWorld