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Hi All
First, we saw the official launch, of Mozilla's Firefox browser,
then we had the first 'Beta' release of MSN Search, with much
publicity. And last but not least, Google announced the allowance
of POP access for Gmail accounts.
This
Weeks Search Engine News
Mine is bigger than yours!
... At last - the MSN Search
beta is out.
Will MSN mount a significant challenge to Google? The jury
is out on that one, though Google apparently rushed to update
its index in advance of the MSN Search release; Google's home
page now boasts a more than 8 billion-page search index, nearly
double the previous number of pages. Microsoft says MSN Search
offers a more than 5 billion-page index.
Oh boy, already a case of "mine is bigger than yours."
So where will the Microsoft advantage come in? In terms of
branding, Google's got game, and the majority of consumer
mindshare. Like Yahoo!, which also has a strong brand presence
and an indelible mark in the consumers' minds, Google is,
well, part of our daily lives. It's a habit.
Now, what Microsoft has that Google doesn't, is the greater
MSN network - a global community comprised of diverse channels,
decent content, and a few must go-to destinations. If I want
to search on MSN Music, the fledgling online music service,
I will eventually be able to do that.
Increasingly personal searches of the PC desktop are also
in the offing. By virtue of the Windows operating system,
running on the vast majority of desktop PCs, Microsoft believes
it will have the edge in desktop search, already providing
to be the next battleground.
But the reality is that any search engine, no matter the brand
or the appealing user interface, must offer quick, relevant,
and comprehensive results.
Meanwhile, let's get down to what really matters: There's
got to be a better name for MSN Search than, well, MSN Search.
Right?
Source: Media Post |