MSN Desktop Search

leaked screenshots

[Sharky]

Neowin.net has published some leaked screenshots of the MSN Desktop Search beta:

[neowin.net ]

which triggered an interesting response in the MSN Search blog:

[blogs.msdn.com ]

It sounds like they're planning a release before the end of the year.

[petehall]

Looks like they are integrating search with almost anything possible!

[amznVibe]

Microsoft is a master of the mimic and then using their brand name to overtake the original designer. They wait for a competitor to develop a product and then you can almost envision the think tank meetings in back rooms that dissect that product part by part to see how to copy it or improve it. They did it with Quicken for example (MS Money) and now they are doing it to QuickBooks (project Magellan) but you can easily rattle off a list of many other programs they have "borrowed" from only after the originals became popular.

Accelerating it to market before it is fully baked is also another one of their traits, the original IE browsers were terrible but produced quickly so they had something to show in house against Netscape. But just like Mozilla has come around full circle with Firefox, it is possible to have companies like Google that have so much momentum, they can just stay ahead if they ride the surf defensively.

Besides, "Googling" is stuck forever in our minds now like "Band-Aid" for any bandage. If and when Microsoft introduces competition for Adsense I'll take notice again, perhaps.

[Sharky]

I can see why you might think of the web-based MSN Search as mimicing Google, but based on the screenshots, the desktop search looks completely unique and totally different from what Google has done.