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November 11, 2004

Microsoft launches new search engine

The new MSN Search was launched today (as a beta product). According to reports the new search engine will give all of us free access to Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia and will attempt to distinguish between keyword web searches and factual questions.

Unfortunately, when I tried to test the new MSN Search this morning I was greeted with the following message: This site is temporarily unavailable, please check back soon.

The charitable thing to say about that message is that the site has probably been swamped by people like me trying to test the site out - but 'Soft should have known that would happen and taken the appropriate steps. The less-than-charitable response is that their nice new toy is already broken.

Try it for yourself at beta.search.msn.com - it might work in a few minutes... if not, "check back soon."

Further Reading:
Microsoft seeks top search spot (BBC)
Microsoft Launches Its Own Web Search Tool (Reuters)
Microsoft unveils new internet search engine (New Scientist)
Microsoft gets in on search party (USA Today)

Posted by maxthecat on November 11, 2004 at 09:11 AM | Printer-friendly version
Filed in: Science and Technology

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