MSN Search - How long after launch

will it take for its usage to rival Google & Yahoo

[digitalv]

When Internet Explorer first came out I remember a lot of people "held out" and continued to use Netscape. For many it wasn't because one browser was superior to the other it was some kind of weird personal anti-Microsoft agenda. Around 4.0 that started to turn around, but that was several years after MSIE had already been on the market. The big change was that it was "in your face" on your desktop and people just started using it.

The programmers at Microsoft are pretty smart guys, and given MS's track record and ability to take other people's ideas and make them better (heh) I have no doubt that when its finished their search engine will be a great one.

With that said, the question is how long do you think it will take before we start seeing more MSN searches than Google/Yahoo searches. I'm sure Microsoft will settle for no less than 90% domination of the search engine market. How long do you think it will take them to get there (IF you think they'll get there) and will they resort to crap like "search built into the Start menu bar" to do it?

[rfgdxm1]

You are forgetting one thing. IE overtook Netscape only after IE became significantly better than Netscape. MS isn't going to dominate search until *after* they get at least as good as Google. And, probably it will require doing better than Google. It isn't like Google has the problem Netscape did that computers out of the box only had IE installed, and they'd have to download Netscape before they could use it. It takes trivial effort for people to get to google.com.

[joeychgo]

I dont know if I agree with that statement.

Why couldnt windows be programmed to go to microsoft search by default?

[rfgdxm1]

>Why couldnt windows be programmed to go to microsoft search by default?

IIRC, the search button on IE already defaults to msn.com.

[digitalv]

I'm thinking MS is going to let you start searching outside of the browser. Keep in mind they will (eventually) have a PPC program like AdWords.

Like a search function on every right-click menu in the OS, or even a hotkey shortcut like press F-10 and type what you're looking for or something.

I can also see them doing application targeting. They could extend the operating system so that any right-clicks in program file directories would have a "Find more software like this" option. It would not be difficult for MS to start building a searchable category-style database of third party applications. On one hand it would be great if MS had such a thing, but on the other hand it's kinda scary :)