Forum Moderators: mack
Corp. on Thursday will start its long-awaited Internet search service, adding fresh competition to Google Inc.The Redmond, Wash. software maker on Thursday will open to the public its service for searching the Internet after eighteen months of development. The company is trying to tap into the lucrative business now dominated by Google of combining Internet search and advertising.
[online.wsj.com...]
Definately looking foreward to the new MSN search!
Again these two press releases contradict each other, as in what is exactly going to happen. IE will they be launching another beta version as we currently have all been playing with, or are they launching it live into msn.com search?
Clarification someone please! :-)
Microsoft Corp. tomorrow will start its long-awaited Internet search service, adding fresh competition to Google Inc.After 18 months of development, the Redmond, Wash., software maker will open a preview version of the search service, according to people familiar with the plan.
So, one way to read the info in both articles is that the preview is open to the public tomorrow with full launch by year's end. Maybe?
Without word from MS, it seems like it's still anybody's guess as to what is actually happening.
Can't wait - 3 players in the market gives a much more even spread (hopefully)!
Looking at the serps for the beta though, I see no reason why they would want to wait.
But like you said without word from MS directly, who knows for sure what's happening. :-(
I'm quite excited about this as well :)
I have always said that MS and Y can only gain a few points here and there but G will always be the search leader. It is just ingrained in people’s heads. CNN and most entertainment outlets have decided G is it. I don't know if it was on purpose but G has had perfect Public Relations. As far as I'm concerned it is clenched. Google and search are in people’s minds like Blowing your nose and Kleenex. People may use other brands but they always call it Kleenex and Kleenex will always be the dominant tissue.
It would seem logical that if they're getting their search engine up and running, microsoft's own version of contextual ads might follow. Or does anyone have reason to believe that's not likely?
People may use other brands but they always call it Kleenex and Kleenex will always be the dominant tissue.
I know I'll be googling the MSN database when it's formally introduced.
i don't know about you, but I don't consider 33% (33k people) nothing to sneeze at...get it...kleenex...get it...uh...
people may not think they're going to switch, but let's see just how well ms shoves their search box in people's faces. i'm guessing very well.
I think it's just a matter of time before MS search begins to grab serious marketshare from G.
I have always said that MS and Y can only gain a few points here and there but G will always be the search leader.
I think you are wrong. If Microsoft releases a search spider that visits sites and update content much more often than google (and this seems to be clearly the case), then lots of people will turn to microsoft.
Yahoo never made it because they index much less content than google does. In my case for a given site, yahoo shows 20 of my urls when google 1400. It will be a whole different story with Microsoft. They should strike where it hurts google: frequency, deepness of crawls. Why would I use google if another engine is refreshed much more often ? Not only MSN-BOT is almost alsways on my site, but it keeps adding new pages as I publish them. This is a clear plus, not only for webmasters, but for surfers.
[edited by: brakkar at 9:11 pm (utc) on Nov. 10, 2004]
Excite, HotBot, and AV were ingrained into people's heads in from 1997-2000.
If G is going to remain at the top of the heap, then they'll have to accomplish what no search engine has previously done, show more than "short term" staying power.
Google suffers from the same weakness that the above (3) one time SE leaders exhibited:
No direct source of Internet traffic.
He who controls the entry way to the web, owns the web, and that's why MSN and AOL are two of the top 5 web properties in terms of usage. Both at one time or another have had "pathetic" search functionality, yet remained strong.
Imagine MSN's market share with a strong search function. It can't do anything but increase.
Why would an MSN subscriber go to Google if they can get good results right at home?
Yahoo has already done what G had better look into: either buy or partner with a major broadband network. Yahoo partnering with SBC was a great move to insure that a large percentage of internet users start at Yahoo every time they log on.
I say "Kudo's" to MSN for finally getting their "Search" together! A big "3" is much more healthy for my pocketbook, than a big "1.5"...
Google was cool for the consumer because it was "new" and "trendy".. But anything new and trendy goes stale after time. Though I still use G for much of my search on the web, I among other's have noticed declining relevance and quality in G's SERPS over the last few months.
Now I just wish AOL would get it together, and buy Ask/Teoma, Wisenut, or some proven search technology, improve it, and give us a Big 4 again!
I was not saying that MS or Y did not have anything. Just like Puffs makes a lot of money but they still don't sell as much as Kleenex. Dr. Pepper is a great drink but they don't sell as much as Coke. My point is they will not pass G. They can get closer but not catch.
They can get closer but not catch
Never say never - remember they have the OS that most users use - so if they can sync this with that (i.e. longhorn) they could have a very good shot.
Whilst google has heaps of cash and goodwill - if there's a better search tool out there slowly but surely people will move with the information - likewise if it's crap - they won't and M$ just wasted a whole load of money.
So add that to the users through the OS and they will be neck and neck if not ahead of google - especially if Yahoo doesn't buck up it's ideas!
I know which horse I would rather back and I'd certainly consider selling a good proportion of them thar GOOG and YAHOO stocks to cash in.
Touting MS as Dr. Pepper or Puffs in both your comparisons, is a bit off course.
Do you realize how many GooglePlex's you could cram into MS's Redmond complex? :)
Microsoft treated MSN like a stepchild division for many years. They feel now is the time to dominate the search market, and with their past history for market domination, they stand a good chance to repeat what they've done "over and over".
I love that Google became what they are basically on viral popularity (With a little help from Yahoo), but let's get real here. Google wasn't even a publicly traded company until a couple of months ago.
If MS comes out and publicly states they are going to dominate a specific vertical market, you can bet they are going to throw some dollars that way.
I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft for other reasons, but every one of my company's Dell PowerEdge servers runs Windows Server, our DB clusters are MS SQL, and on and on. There are a million companies just like mine, that are 100% MS houses. The rev's driven from online search are miniscule in the whole scheme of the online world.
I still say, MS bring on new search, and put a another major player on the table. It's healthy for any website owner, SEM firm, and the Internet in general.
Imagine MSN's market share with a strong search function. It can't do anything but increase.
Why would an MSN subscriber go to Google if they can get good results right at home?
Agreed. I get a ton of MSN traffic ALREADY. Once they make the switch to their own system (which, according to the tech preview, I appear to be doing very well in), and it gains momentum, Google could be in trouble.
Keep in mind the low-level of "techiness" of non-web professionals.
My mother loves the web...but she still to this day types her URLs in the google search box (only because I set it as her start page). Once MSN starts pushing search HARD, I think we'll see a big shift.
personally, I think the only long-term solution for Google is to purchase AOL.
AOL already being a portal (And I guess I now consider G a portal in a way), may not make as much sense as maybe G partnering with a regional/semi-national broadband player like ComCast.
Time will tell, but I think G's popularity will fade without a straight shot of default start pages that a Comcast can provide.
