Forum Moderators: mack
I am also interested to know what they concluded -where do you guys read about Microsoft’s latest happenings at besides here?
But as they say at the site, [sandbox.msn.com...] is pretty much where they will announce anything new techiewise.
What is interesting is that they are saying that they will launch a NEW Beta before going live. I for one wasn't expecting such a tactic. Sure, I expected them to do something to the one that they had up at Techpreview, but not to take it down again. I am guessing they weren't as happy with the "alpha" as they had hoped. It raises questions about whether the Microsoft technology can be upgraded "on the fly" as the others seem to be able to do.
This, to me, is interesting. Often, Microsoft in the past have generally announced a launch date for a product and then shipped it on time - bugs and all. They seem to be using a different strategy here - one of getting the product tight first!
If you dig through these forums, it is clear that they had already done some in depth research on some of the weaknesses shown in techpreview before they launched it, so my machievellian mind had assumed that they could simply switch on a few filters to dramatically improve the result quality, but perhaps the research papers haven't been put into the algorithnk yet.
I guess as well, they are probably going to ensure they have reasonably favourable feedback from the techie community, because it was intrinsically the techie feedback that built Google up into the Goliath that it is today.
Anyway - looks like I lose mty bet that they would launch in the summer... but I still think it was a Microsoft aspiration if they could have done it well in that time.
Back to the waiting game... :)
Dixon.
Bring it on, there is always room for another quality player at the table, and G & Y have left a chair open for ya!
(I say this, not because my site does not do well on G & Y, it does, because I do not like having all my eggs in two main baskets, wanna spread them to 3 baskets)
Thumpcyc
Lets go msn.
The new search pointed me to the exact sites I was seeking.
Did they happen to be yours ;-)
My history records say something different:
Often, Microsoft in the past have generally announced a launch date for a product and then shipped it way back later - bugs and all.
They are the inventors of vaporware, though it could be they mean it most of the time (if they talk of shipping dates) but didn't consider the complexities.
I cannot argue with the bugs, But if you have spent any time supporting software, then you already know that shipping software with bugs is not exclusive to Microsoft.
There is no "Perfect" search engine, all have their flaws(read bugs here), so as I see it, Microsoft Search needs to grow it's index a bit(read include my site;-) & then throw it out on the table, and like everything else, make it better as it grows & matures.
Vaporware, I don't think so,
Thumpcyc
Well, usually their products are for an OS that dominates the market. Like or it not, most of the population needs the software. Not many will try it, see the bugs and go buy a Mac ;).
But, with search - they stand to lose market share if their results are horrid - rather than gaining it as they would like. One difference for search for MSN is that there are bigger and better competitors out there. They may be used to the better, but certainly not the bigger ;).
