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Microsoft Releases Toolbar Suite
Philipp Lenssen writes "Microsoft today released the MSN Toolbar Suite Beta. This brings true desktop search to Windows (for those who don't have Google Desktop Search or similar software running already) and also includes features like search term highlighting in web pages, auto-completing of forms, and a pop-up blocker."
I wish there was a Google toolbar for Firefox (ie the main feature I would like to see is search term highlighting in web pages).
Doesn't XP SP2 come with a popup blocker? Why would they put another one in (besides bringing popup blocking to earlier versions of Windows)? It just seems like a waste to me.
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
Well, maybe not a dollar short, but late? For sure. Hell there are even spyware toolbars that do this stuff.
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
And what's wrong with that?
If Apple did this, Mac Fanboys would be clamouring to download it and then post how it makes the Mac even EASIER to use...
Ah well. MS has an OS that 97% of the PC's use, and they leverage it to their advantage. Apple, and in fact, ANY company would do the same. Good luck to them.
Of course, justice, truth and "what's right" don't jive with the current corporate mindset. Love it, or leave it. Don't bitch about it.
using the firefox extension "linkification" you can have your default mail "client" be a webpage, like squirrelmal
So I decided to install this POS to test it out. The final straw for me was that it hid and disabled my google toolbar in IE. That is:
1) shady
2) annoying
3) typical Microsoft
Do not install this.
my journal: scripts for leaching porn baked fresh daily
I would argue that certain distributions are usable by Joe Sixpack if they don't have to unlearn any computing habits instilled by using alternate operating systems. I have a brother in law who doesn't care one wit about computing. He's a pretty average high school kid. He uses apps provided by KDE under SuSe to surf the web, check his email, write his term papers, et cetera. I installed it for him one day and have answered one question since then regarding it. It just kind of works for him.
I know it's anecdotal evidence but that's what most of us have, especially when the vast majority of searchable and citable evidence regarding open source is TCO studies sponsored by third parties with a vested interest in the outcome. Those studies focus on a completely different environment.
On topic: I'm glad that MS has thrown its hat into the desktop search ring. I think that search is a much needed feature for that Windows. Finding a file in Windows seems unreasonably resource intensive. Likewise, there's nothing like downloading a file and forgetting where IE tossed it and you're fumbling about your OS to find it. No, not me, I don't do Windows. Friends.
Check out regex searching and "from:john" kind of email searching at http://beta.search.msn.com/docs/toolbar.aspx?t=MSN Tbar_PROC_CompleteSearchSyntax.htm
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Pop-up blocking is not the touted feature of this toolbar release. Also desktop search is nothing new - Google, Copernic, X1 all have stable offerings. What may make MSN desktop search popular is the fact that it allows users to search directly from windows explorer. Now when searching for files on my dektop, windows explorer is the first place users tend to look for (Users are used to pressing F3 in explorer).
I tried my hands at the suite and on the face value, it doesn't seem special or radically different from its competitors. But I am yet to find anything seriously wrong with it.
And though it claims to index and search my Outlook emails, it is not fast and flexible enough to make me want to replace my Lookout toolbar.
Google Desktop Search was aimed at everyone
Google Desktop Search was aimed at everyone running Windows, like all of Google's standalone programs (whether developed in-house or bought from another vendor).
Around here, "everyone" includes people running Linux, Mac OS X, and any other operating system you can name.
Besides, I didn't see you complaining when Google released a toolbar for Internet Explorer only -- Firefox and Opera had to develop their own toolbars to search Google.
For more information, click here.
Unfortunately, as reactionary as Microsoft is, it works. They take existing ideas, improve on it, and make a killing. The Xbox, .NET & ASP.NET, IIS6, Tablet PCs, Embedded Windows, etc... are neither original or revolutionary, but taken for their merits outside of the Microsoft specter are fantastic applications/platforms. Much like many v1 pieces of software, they had somewhat inauspicious starts, but have slowly matured into solid platforms.
Microsoft is not doomed. Even with the, frankly, much needed, arrival of customer friendly alternatives like OSX, newer linux desktops, Firefox, etc... Microsoft continues to expand into new markets and grow. Even with some horrible embarassments like the constant e-mail viruses, their profits this year were up 11%. Why is that? Is it just because they have a monopoly? Or could it be that even with the issues companies see great value in using MS products?
Being on the inside, I'm quite confident that things look *really* good for the future of MS. They've got quite a few fantastic features in the pipeline for existing products and quite a few new products up their sleeves. And as 'evil' as the company has been, they've realized that they will get eaten alive by Linux and other competitors if their products can't compete on a level playing field -- their monopoly will not last forever. So they have honed in on the one thing that *kills* them now -- Security. And in the past year have totally overhauled the company. All their products are being deeply analyzed for security flaws using threat modelling and other techniques. A huge pain in the ass for my team but much needed. SP2 is a step forward, as have been the patches to many desktop and server products. It sucks that it took this long for Microsoft to realize it, but they have, and the proof is in what's continually coming out of their doors in recent years.
Anyway, enough of a rant. I'm very glad Linux is in the picture. Microsoft can't afford to be a sleeping giant, and in the end we all win -- with killer strides in the Linux Desktop, and with leaps in security in Windows servers. Competition's where it's at!
No, no -- let me guess -- it's TOTALLY different because YOU'RE right. Bleh.
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Inventor of the term 'pardon my French'.
Which is funny because I would think Firefox more than exceeds IE 5.01
itadakimasu
I tried it out and though that it was a good program, similar to the Google Desktop Search, until it started crashing my Outlook. Kept getting errors within Outlook that I could not view certain folders because another program that had them opened had crashed. After a couple of Outlook restarts, it got to the point where Outlook would not start at all. It would just freeze at the opening screen. I did like the ability to tell it what folders to search, a feature that Google search is sorely lacking. Of the four search programs I've tried in depth (Google Desktop, MSN Desktop, Copernic, and dtSearch), dtSearch seemed to work the best overall, though there were still files on my server that would crash it during the indexing phase. Copernic did almost as well on indexing, but would frequently crash while searching. Generally, the program seemed fragile. You know, those programs that you can't rely on because they crash way too often that it's hardly worth using them. Google was good, but useless since I couldn't customize it at all. MSN was generally good, but seemed to have a lot of problems related to indexing Outlook e-mail messages. Can someone please come out with a decent desktop search program that understands lots of file formats, does not crash during indexing, do not crash during searching, and works well with Outlook and Outlook Express and other e-mail programs?
MS was not trying to be better than Spotlight, WinFS is on teh level of Spotlight, not this POS. this is a stopgap in order to keep Windows users from jumping ship on the search systems so when they do introduce the next search subsystem in Longhorn (WinFS) people will be using it rather than using a crappier search from a 3rd party.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
It may be made by Microsoft but the program is better than Google. You can actually interact with your search results similar to the way you could from Windows Explorer from a folder or what not. That is something that had annoyed me with Google's. SOmetimes I want to find every file that has something in it to delete them all yet to do so I have to use the crappy search functionality built into Windows. It also searchs more things (contacts in Outlook is an example). I may not like the company behind it but you can't say that they didn't do a better job this time. Hopefully this just convinces others to upgrade and innovate more.