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Microsoft's Search Engine Plans

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the amazing-expanding-operating-system dept.

prostoalex writes "Andy Beal from SearchEngineGuide.com interviews Robert Scoble from Microsoft. Scoble tells the audience what current search technologies Microsoft is working on as part of its Longhorn/WinFS development as well as in the field of Internet. Scoble also discusses current problems with local drive and Internet searching, such as absence of metadata for a lot of files out there: "When I take pictures off of my Nikon, they have some metadata (for instance, inside the file is the date it was taken, along with the exposure information) but that metadata isn't useful for most human searches. For instance, how about if I wanted to search for "my wedding photos?" Neither X1, nor Windows XP's built in search would find your wedding photos. Why? Because they have useless names like DSC0001.jpg and there's no metadata that says they are wedding photos.""

4 of 407 comments (clear)

  1. Thumbnails by sreid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What happened to thumbnails?

  2. Google by linuxci · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The way Google needs to compete is to show their users that there's no need for Microsoft.... Why? Because MS may just do its best to stop the Google toolbar working in IE for Longhorn. Microsoft have already 'innovated' an MSN toolbar that looks very similar to the Google offering.


    So instead of offering their official toolbar for IE only (the one for Mozilla is unofficial), start to slowly phase out the Google Toolbar and replace it with the Google Browser which would basically be a Google branded Mozilla Firebird. With all the features that make Firebird great like Tabbed Browsing, with the addition of the Google Toolbar features such as PageRank, etc. All on a cross platform basis.


    If people get used to downloading better browsers now, then they won't even notice when the next release of IE starts to reject the Google Toolbar.


    Let them know what you think

  3. sharing proprietary formated data by stonebeat.org · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope the industry sees the opportunities that Longhorn's WinFS opens up. We can either work together and share data with each other, or we can be afraid and keep data to ourselves.

    Share data? with whom? how can you share data that is in either proprietary format or "patented XML" ???
    It is following the OpenStandard that will help in "working together and sharing data".

    --


    Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
  4. Human entry errors are THE problem by blueworm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Neither X1, nor Windows XP's built in search would find your wedding photos. Why? Because they have useless names like DSC0001.jpg and there's no metadata that says they are wedding photos."

    Metadata will NEVER improve searching in this way unless the things that generate the content FORCE you to put it in before they can snap pictures, etc...

    Even if people were forced to put metadata into all their files there is a big chance that typos and other errors in entering the info would occur. This will make the metadata totally useless in a search!