SearchMax

TECHNOLOGY & YOU

Desktop Search: The Game Is Afoot
New tools have various strengths, but you can only use one

By Stephen H. Wildstrom BusinessWeek

Just a few months ago, Windows users who needed something better than Microsoft’s clunky search feature to locate e-mail messages or files on their computer had to seek out — and usually pay for — third-party software. Now, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) has joined Google (GOOG ) in providing a free desktop search tool, Yahoo! (YHOO ) has announced plans to do the same, and more are on the way.

On Dec. 13 a test version of Microsoft’s entry arrived as part of a new MSN Toolbar. This is a critical step in the evolution of local search because the odds are good that the technology will eventually be built into Internet Explorer, perhaps into Windows itself. Yahoo! will make a version of X1, an excellent stand-alone search application, available free of charge in January. And Earthlink will incorporate X1 into the e-mail software it provides to its Internet service subscribers. America Online (TWX ) has been rumored to be negotiating with search software maker Copernic, but it says only that desktop search will be part of a new AOL browser that is under development.

More

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 6th, 2005 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.