Microsoft hustles to catch up with search engine giants Google and Yahoo, but the beta version of MSN Search still leaves plenty of room for improvement.
CNET editors' take
- Reviewed on: 11/10/2004
Upside: The beta version of MSN Search offers tighter integration with other Microsoft properties, drawing results from Encarta and MSN Music. MSN Search catches up with other search engines by offering neighborhood-specific searches and advanced search-querying capabilities missing from previous iterations of MSN Search, such as restricting results to a specific site domain, country, language, or even popularity.
Downside: During the beta period, not everyone accessing MSN Search will get the new search results; only a few sample queries will run on the new technology for now. Also, this beta favors Microsoft customers. In addition to standard Web search results, MSN Search will also query Microsoft Encarta and MSN Music databases. For example, in response to a query about the height of Mount Everest, Encarta will return an answer of 29,035 feet, but in order to drill down further (say you want to know about other Himalayan mountains), you must subscribe to the Encarta Premium service.
Outlook: Microsoft is very late to the search party. With Google and Yahoo already claiming significant leads in audience following and features offered, and with Amazon's A9 also on the guest list, Microsoft will need to put significant muscle into further improving its MSN Search beyond this beta version.
- See more CNET content tagged:
- MSN Search,
- Encarta.com,
- MSN,
- beta version,
- beta
User opinions
Rating from 3 users
WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEW How would you rate this product?
-
5/10 Average January 12, 2005
"This late in the search game?" Read more >>
-
10/10 Perfect January 12, 2005
"A great search from a great company." Read more >>
-
10/10 Perfect January 12, 2005
"Much like Google, with some useful additions" Read more >>
- WRITE YOUR OWN REVIEWSee all 3 user opinions >>




