Forum Moderators: mack
I am not an avid MSN user, by no means. I have lately taken interest in the company to explore what possibilities exist for Gates & Co. and their Search. What may the future hold? Can someone really come in and do it better?
Recent investigation on my end has lead me to believe MSN Search will fail. Why? Simply because Microsoft overlooks the one simple reason why Google is currently King at providing information and search.
Bill Gates states part of improving their search, the next phase of their development will focus on making search more accessible in a variety areas and applications. I believe that translates that Microsoft will integrate search into their new OS code named “Longhorn”.
MSN Search team is forever these days working on a variety of software tools, as well trying to improve their search results. If one has not used their latest products, they are producing some nice tools and results – and while not perfect, certainly on the right track in my opinion.
None of this is going to help Gates & Co. conquer Google or the grip they have on their audience. Understanding what search is all about... one only needs to look at their main competitor - Google
If MSN Search is going to be a success (listen up Billy) … You need to be all about search and controlling/providing information. For all its simplicity, there it is!
Visit Google.com and what do you see?
Google homepage presents a search box with six plus options to search. For a user this is both simple and requires no more thought than the question or interest on mind. You can’t get better than that!
Could MSN.com commit to doing the same thing? (Convert their site to be all about search) Would it have an impact on how people view MSN Search?
Microsoft needs to step back and look at the big picture… because they are in a unique position to make search better and more of a pleasurable experience. I mean today search usability, results, organization could be so much better than they are now! All engines are a visual nightmare!
If Apple was in the game of Search think how things may be different ;)
The problem for MS is that in the past the key step was crushing the competing company financially by making the products cheaper. Since Google already gives away their search product, MS is in new waters. They can't underprice the competition, the competition has great cash flow they can't undermine, and MS faces similar threats from other quarters at the same time, such as Linux and other opensource products.
So I'd expect lots of PR and rhetoric while they stumble around looking for a solution. It may be a while before MS hits on the idea of paying all of us to search at MSN.
M is just laying the foundation, and IMO, they have one huge, glaring advantage... they are not reliant on search to stay in business, G is. So every single searcher G looses to M hurts G's ability to do business in a small way, but M can bungle along for about as long as it takes to get it right, because their business is not dependent on search... yet.
Justin
[sea.search.msn.com...] is possibly just one step towards what you are talking about.
Also see: [imagine-msn.com...]
Perhaps it is bulkier than some of us might like right now ... but who knows what the future holds.
Mr. Gates does not like to lose and lord knows he has the money to put up "the good fight" and pile loads of money into R&D.
Though I would not put money on the table right now, my bet is that this race has not even begun! I for one would be loathe to declare a winner just yet!
MSN search's launch has been either poorly concieved or just plain dumb on every level. It's like quite literally anyone who knows anything about search or the history of search engines has had no voice in anything.
The search engine has been a complete failure in large part because only today are we at the point that we should have been one year ago, when they released that godawful alpha search with seven jillion variations of Amazon in the results.
The results today are beta quality. Now Microsoft needs to simply invest in making the results competitive. Get rid of the moronic geolocation. Value deep content authority domains instead of the first five pages of a piece of blog spammed crap. Stop advertising a product light years behind the (very vulnerable) competition. Develop an algorithm that values quality and not URL subdomain construction. Provide high quality, up to date, globally accessible results... and win the search wars.
It's like a World war II border... the Italian Army is retreating, the French army is surrendering, and the Swiss Army is sitting on their butts eating chocolate.
MSN search is still a work in progress and has a way to go before it catches Google and Yahoo.
However:
Google seems to be slowly abandoning its clean search interface. They've introduced News, GMail and other features that make them look more like MSN and Yahoo all the time. This is a big mistake. Spreading resouces thinly until they don't do anything better than the other players.
In fact, I see Google's strategy opening the door for MSN and others to grab market share of search. It appears that the big three will all look very much alike in the coming years.
