Bing …

Verizon chooses Microsoft Live Search over Google and Yahoo

Major win for Microsoft in the field of Internet Search …

… Verizon Communications Inc has chosen Microsoft Corp to provide Internet search services for cell phones, in what is seen as a blow to rivals Google Inc and Yahoo Inc.

Verizon Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said on Wednesday that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would announce the deal later in the day at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Seidenberg, speaking at a Citigroup conference, gave no further details.

The deal follows more than a year of speculation on who would become the default mobile search provider for Verizon Wireless, which is set to surpass AT&T Inc as the No. 1 U.S. mobile carrier after it closes its purchase of smaller operator Alltel later this week.

"It's certainly a feather in Microsoft's cap. Tough news for Google and tougher news for Yahoo," CCS Insight analyst John Jackson said of the agreement. …

Source : MSN Money

Zinio Inside : Search through millions of magazine pages

Very cool new functionality from Zino : Zinio Inside :

Zinio has recently released a new product feature called Zinio INSIDE. Zinio INSIDE is Free. It gives you the ability to search 50 million pages of content and read and/or share any article or ad you find 3 clicks or less. For more information on Zinio INSIDE, or to try it now click here.

Microsoft To Buy Greenfield Online For $486 Million

Microsoft intends to buy Greenfield Online to further expand the Search and e-commerce activities in Europe ..

…Microsoft Corp. on Friday said it will buy Web-based survey company Greenfield Online Inc. for about $486 million in cash in a move that will bolster its search and e-commerce services in Europe.

Microsoft (MSFT) will pay $17.50 a share for Greenfield (SRVY). The deal tops an earlier proposal by buyout firm Quadrangle Group to acquire the company for $ 15.50 per share.

The Microsoft offer represents a premium of about 10% to the closing price of Greenfield shares on Aug. 25, the day before it said it had received a $17.50 acquisition offer without disclosing its origin.

The deal, Microsoft's first since it failed to acquire Yahoo Inc (YHOO), will give the software giant access to Ciao.com, Greenfield's popular price comparison and consumer reviews site in Europe.

"Acquiring one of Europe's leading price comparison, shopping and consumer reviews site will further extend Microsoft's search and e-commerce services in Europe," said Tami Reller, chief financial officer for Windows and Online services at Microsoft. …

Source:CNN Money

The Forrester Wave(tm): Enterprise Search, Q2 2008

Snapshot of the Enterprise Search market, which is consolodating at a rapid pace. Microsoft did a superb job by acquiring FAST as you can see ...

Forrester evaluated enterprise search vendors against 147 criteria and found that Autonomy, Endeca, FAST (a Microsoft subsidiary), and Vivisimo lead the market with impressive technical capabilities and a diverse customer base pushing for further innovation. Over the past two years, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle have all recognized their potential advantage in the enterprise search market. Not only do they have deep financial resources to support their products, but they also can win customers who seek to natively connect and integrate search with existing IBM, Microsoft, or Oracle applications and content repositories. Yet these vendors are still digesting acquisitions and building search features that customers want now. Meanwhile, Recommind and InQuira deliver distinctive solutions for targeted market segments — legal and customer service, respectively—while Coveo is repositioning itself due to industry shakeups. Google competes effectively on ease of administration, low-cost/high-value appliances, and stellar brand. Search is a buyer's market, and I&KM pros must pragmatically align their requirements to get the best value and fit for their needs.

Source: The Forrester Wave(tm): Enterprise Search, Q2 2008

Search Engine Strategies met Maurits-Jan Groen van Microsoft

Leuk interview met mijn collega Maurits Jan over Search Engine strategies ...

Tijdens Search Engine Strategies 2008 in Londen heeft Miriam Martinus namens Checkit enkele interviews opgenomen. ..

... De derde video was een interview door bovengenoemde Bas met Microsoft. De vierde video is weer Nederlandstalig en met niemand minder dan Maurits-Jan Groen van MSN. Enjoy!

Source: Search Engine Strategies met Maurits-Jan Groen

Microsoft SearchTogether : Social / Collaborative Search

Cool new development from Microsoft Research : MicrosoftTogether.

... Today, Web search is a solitary experience. Web browsers and search engine sites are typically designed to support a single user, working alone. However, collaboration on information-seeking tasks is actually quite commonplace! For example, students work together to complete homework assignments, friends seek information about entertainment opportunities, family members jointly plan vacation travel, and colleagues jointly conduct research for their projects. My research on collaborative search is aimed at facilitating small-group collaboration on search tasks; this webpage contains links to my papers and videos on collaborative search. ...

 

Mrs Dewey is back....

From Michael blog ... Mrs Dewey  was  Microsoft site which showed serach result with 'commentary' ... Now in the spirit of the US elections, there's Left vs Right :-)

http://www.leftvsright.com/

Nice viral from our Windows Live Search friends....

Source: Mrs Dewey is back....
mkogeler
Date Published: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:36:15 GMT

Case Study : Q-go : Intuitive Language Software Automatically Answers 90 Per Cent of Customer Questions

Q-go is a Dutch company with an impressive lost of customers ...

... Q-go is a fast-growing independent software vendor (ISV) specialising in natural language search (NLS) technology. It wanted to offer its customers an alternative solution to search engines such as Google. By integrating the company’s NLS solution with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 for Search, users pose questions to organisations in their own language and get an immediate answer...

Source and full case study : Microsoft.com

Computable test : Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express

Microsoft en Enterprise Search een hele goede combinatie. Onderstaande test van Computabble geeft je veel informatie over Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, een versie die gratis.

Test: Informatie opzoeken op de Microsoft-manier

Alle kennis en informatie in je bedrijf aan je vingertoppen... als je die informatie maar kunt vinden. In de meeste bedrijven wordt er heel wat informatie opgeslagen in bestanden, e-mails, streams, noem maar op. Maar daar iets in terugvinden is heel andere koek. Microsoft brengt met Search Server 2008 een zoeksysteem voor bedrijfsinformatie op de markt.

Conclusie

Search Server 2008 Express biedt een rijke zoekomgeving die heel wat verschillende soorten opslagsystemen kan doorzoeken en indexeren. Voor alles wat niet standaard ondersteund wordt kunnen derden speciale connectors schrijven. Zoals we gewend zijn van Microsoft is een en ander wel nogal Windows-centrisch en worden er bijvoorbeeld geen controlesystemen voor authentificatie ondersteund die niet werken zoals die van Microsoft zelf. Maar als je netwerk en bedrijf Windows-centrisch is, kan deze Search Server je gouden diensten bewijzen.

Productinfo

Product: Search Server 2008 Express

Producent: Microsoft Inc., USA; www.microsoft.com

Leverancier: Microsoft Nederland, www.microsoft.nl

Adviesprijs (excl. BTW): de Express-versie draait op één server en is gratis; de gewone versie werkt in een multiserver-omgeving en is bedoeld voor grote organisaties; prijzen hiervan werden niet medegedeeld.

Systeemvereisten: Windows Server 2003, .NET Framework 3.0, evt. SQL Server 2005

De Kern

• Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express zoekt informatie in al je documenten en e-mails in heel het netwerk.

• De juiste informatie zoeken én vinden is het halve werk.

  Het Search Server 2008-systeem van Microsoft is in feite een uitbreiding op SharePoint Services. Zoals de naam al aangeeft, is het een zoeksysteem om informatie terug te vinden opgeslagen in SharePoint-sites, websites, netwerkvolumes en publieke folders van Exchange. Er bestaat een gewone en een Express versie van Search Server. De gratis Express-versie is bedoeld voor wat kleinere bedrijven die minder informatie en servers te doorzoeken hebben en waar dus één fysieke zoekserver volstaat. De betaalde gewone versie is bedoeld voor grote organisaties en kan op meerdere servers draaien. Wij hebben Search Server 2008 Express uitgeprobeerd.

Ga naar de Computable site voor alle informatie : Comptable.nl

Confusion and uncertainty in the Enterprise Search market ?

Google certainly want's you to believe this, judging on a post by Google's Rodrigo Vaca :

... Last week's developments in the enterprise search market are sure to bring confusion and uncertainty to many customers. Customers of existing enterprise search solutions will start wondering about the future of the investment they made in the past. Is their product still going to be developed and improved? What about support for a diverse enterprise IT landscape? How long before they're asked to do a painful -and costly- migration? ...

This obviously refers to the announcement of Microsoft to acquire Fast. Google apparently wants Fast customers to believe that there's no future developments and that current Microsoft Enterprise Search solutions don't operate in a diverse enterprise IT landscape ... well they do.

And let's face it Google Enterprise Search does not provide the capabilities Fast Search solutions provide, so exactly how does Google envision a switch to Google's platform, because there's simply no way they can fill the holes.

Microsoft acquired Fast because of the fact that it compliments its Enterprise Search capabilities and not with the intent to move clients over in any form ...

... On the other side, customers of some content management systems just realized that an enterprise search "feature" - or an "express" product, for that matter - is just not enough. Good enterprise search requires a dedicated, specialized system that is secure, returns relevant results quickly, and most importantly, is able to find all content throughout the enterprise, regardless where it is located. ...

Again a little (intended?)confusion about Microsoft's solutions in Enterprise Search. Maybe some external independent research might not hurt : Burton Group, Forrester, Forrester,  Gartner.

Google is tempting you to make a fast switch. I would recommend, think first and ask Microsoft to inform you about its Search strategy and solutions (and not trust the competition to do this for you ;-)) and then make a sound decision ...

Microsoft Buys FAST; Last Year It Was BI, This Year It's Search

Guy Creese of Burton Group shares his view on how the FAST acquisition will compliment Microsoft Enterprise Search portfolio :

.... Microsoft announced today that it was buying Fast Search & Transfer, the Norwegian enterprise search firm, for approximately $1.2 billion. It looks like pretty much a done deal, in that FAST's Board of Directors is recommending the acquisition and the two largest shareholders are on board (per a ZDNet blog post)....

... Strategically, Microsoft now has all the bases covered (and, as a nice side benefit, prevented IBM and Oracle from adding FAST to their arsenal). Now, of course, it has to execute, which is always easier said than done.

If you go down the list of competitors, they're now coming up short:

• Autonomy: Starting to look a bit stranded as the remaining, large, best-of-breed vendor, and strong only in tier three. Great for publishers and specialized niche search, but too expensive for general deployment.
• Oracle: Has a solid tier two offering with Secure Enterprise Search, but nothing for tiers one and three.
• IBM: A lot of strong technology, but oriented more for integrators (think IBM Global Services) than for an off-the-shelf purchase. It doesn't help that there are internal organizational walls to overcome. Search falls within the Information Management division at IBM, while collaboration is controlled by the IBM Lotus division.
• Google: A strong offering for tier one (Google Search Appliance), but nothing for tiers two and three.

To sum up, Microsoft just became a one-stop shop vendor for enterprise search. ...

Source: Microsoft Buys FAST; Last Year It Was BI, This Year It's Search
Date Published: Tue, 08 Jan 2008

2007 Analyst Reports on or including Microsoft Products and solutions

The Microsoft Analyst Relations page features lot's of reports for which Microsoft has obtained the reprint or distribution rights. I have made a selection of the 2007 reports on topics that mean something in 'my world' :

Below is a collection of reports published by leading independent analyst firms on, or including, Microsoft. Microsoft has secured all copyright and publishing privileges with the firms to include the reports on this site for all audiences. All reports were researched and funded by the analyst firms themselves.

(some links may expire over time)

Enterprise Search

• Microsoft: The Latest Disruptor in Enterprise Search (Forrester Research, Nov. 6, 2007, .pdf, 104K) This Forrester report examines Microsoft’s expanded enterprise search offerings. Analyst Ken Poore writes “Microsoft Search Server 2008 raises the bar and frees up search. This week, Microsoft made its latest move into the enterprise search platforms market with two strategic products: Microsoft Search Server Express 2008 and Microsoft Search Server 2008. These products deliver a solid set of features that reset the feature/price/ease-of-use equation for entry-level and midtier enterprise search.”
  
• Microsoft Drives a Wedge Between High and Low-End Enterprise Search (Forrester Research, Sept. 28, 2007, .pdf, 121 kb) This Forrester report examines Microsoft’s position into the enterprise search market. Analyst Matthew Brown writes “Microsoft offers significantly improved search capabilities in MOSS 2007 and its standalone search product, MOSS 2007 for Search. And Microsoft isn't just throwing products into the market. Instead, it has mobilized the entire organization behind search, including extensive marketing and events, partner training programs, and specific global sales goals.”
  
• Magic Quadrant for Information Access Technology, 2007 (Gartner, September 5, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Whit Andrews evaluates leading vendors in the Information Access market which extends beyond enterprise search to encompass a collection of information access technologies. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Challengers quadrant. According to Gartner, “Challengers possess sufficient resources to effectively penetrate the information access technology market.”
  
• How Secure Should Your Search Be? (Forrester Research, Inc., April 12, 2007, .pdf, 128 kb) This Forrester report examines enterprise search security as a complex issue that requires careful weighing of requirements to achieve “winning search strategies that will balance costs with advanced functionality.” For example, organizations should consider whether search will span more than one secure repository and if the answer is ‘yes’, analyst Matt Brown writes companies should evaluate “higher-end products including those from infrastructure providers such as Microsoft.”

Messaging and Workflow

• Messaging, Workflow Roadmap Announced (Directions on Microsoft, Oct. 30, 2007, .pdf, 377 kb) “Oslo supports principles – service-oriented architecture and composite applications – that Microsoft believes will drive future business application development.”

 

SaaS / Enterprise 2.0 / Consumerisation

• Evaluating IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP Web and Consumerization Strategies (Gartner Research, Oct. 3, 2007) This vendor evaluation looks at Consumerization and the Web as two related and highly impactful issues facing users and vendors today. Analysts David Mitchell Smith and Charles Abrams state that “one major force behind the consumerization of IT is the Internet and enterprises' adoption of Internet technologies.”
  
• Rich Internet Apps Move Beyond The Browser (Forrester Research, June 27, 2007) This Forrester report examines the adoption of rich internet applications (RIAs). The independent report finds that while early RIAs were exclusively browser-based, new platforms from Microsoft [and other vendors] broaden developer options for delivering rich media and content to clients. Forrester writes that “Microsoft has a tactical edge because its dominant position at the desktop with the .NET Framework will attract large numbers of developers who already target Microsoft’s desktop and browser platforms.”

Enterprise Content Management

• Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management, 2007 (Gartner, September 21, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Karen Shegda evaluates leading vendors in the Enterprise Content Management market which includes web content management, records management, document imaging, document management, workflow and document-centric collaboration. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Visionaries quadrant.

Unified Communications

• Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, 2007 (Gartner, August 20, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Bern Elliot evaluates leading vendors in the unified communications market. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Leaders quadrant. According to Gartner, “The Leaders quadrant contains vendors selling comprehensive and integrated UC solutions that directly, or with well-defined partnerships, address the full range of market needs.”
• Microsoft Communicator Overhangs the Enterprise Communications Market (Gartner, Inc., May 1, 2007) In this Gartner report, analyst Geoff Johnson discusses Microsoft’s upcoming launch of Office Communications Server 2007. He states that “reliable integration of communications into enterprise platforms is a necessary precursor to the eventual development of communications-enabled business processes.”

Office 2007

• A Look at Improvements and Shortcoming in Microsoft Office 2007 Desktop Applications (Forrester Research, July 17, 2007, .pdf, 464 kb) This report, the second in Forrester’s “Innovation on the Desktop” series, states that “the breadth of Microsoft Office 2007 and its change of focus from desktop apps to a full system targeted at information workers warrants careful consideration by (Information and Knowledge Management Professionals.)” Analyst Kyle McNabb writes that “office productivity will evolve, taking advantage of more thin client and SaaS approaches, but we’ve not seen the end of the thick client.”

Project and Portfolio Management

• Magic Quadrant for IT Project and Portfolio Management, 2007 (Gartner, June 15, 2007, .pdf, 213 kb): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Matt Light and Daniel Stang evaluates leading technology solution vendors in the IT Project and Portfolio Management space. Gartner positions Microsoft in the Leaders quadrant. According to Gartner, Leaders “distinguish themselves with relatively high ratings in many characteristics, not just a few” and “also tend to have, not just capable system integration partners, but some core, direct PPM service offerings, going beyond implementation and support to include process-change consulting.”

Customer Relationship Management

• Microsoft Leads in Record-Centric Customer Service Management Software: The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q2 2007 (Forrester Research, May 24, 2007, .pdf, 199 kb) “Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which delivers sufficient customer service capabilitie at a low cost, has emerged as a leader among customer record-centric products. Although not as functionally rich in core customer service capabilities, Microsoft compensates through its architecture, integration, usability, and business strategy. The product shines in its ability to support agents through phone agent, blended agent, and agent collaboration tools — all of which sit on top of a solid workflow engine. In the future, look for Microsoft to exploit its Customer Care Framework, a modular XML Web Services architecture for rapid development and deployment of contact center solutions.”
  
• Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centers, (Gartner, March 6, 2007): This Gartner Magic Quadrant by Michael Maoz evaluates leading CRM vendors in the customer service contact centers space and positions Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Visionary quadrant. According to Gartner, Visionaries are ahead of potential competitors in delivery of innovative products and/or delivery models.
  
• The Forrester Wave™: Midmarket CRM Suites, Q1 2007 (Forrester, February 21, 2007, .pdf , 513 kb): “The Microsoft brand gives Dynamics CRM major momentum. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of the newer products included in our evaluation, but the vendor has made impressive progress building out its solution, which emerged as a Leader for the first time in a Forrester Wave.”
  
• The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise CRM Suites, Q1 2007 (Forrester Research, Feb. 5, 2007, .pdf, 488 kb) Microsoft Dynamics CRM was rated a Strong Performer in this Forrester Wave. Forrester applied two sets of criteria weightings to this analysis, one appropriate for large enterprise wide deployments and another focused on midmarket priorities - the two sets of criteria were then used to evaluate and position the solutions.

Microsoft Announces Offer to Acquire Fast Search & Transfer

In case you were not yet aware of this, Microsoft is very very serious about Enterprise Search ...

... Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) today announced that it will make an offer to acquire Fast Search & Transfer ASA (OSE: “FAST”), a leading provider of enterprise search solutions, through a cash tender offer for 19.00 Norwegian kroner (NOK) per share. This offer represents a 42 percent premium to the closing share price on Jan. 4, 2008 (the last trading day prior to this announcement), and values the fully diluted equity of FAST at 6.6 billion NOK (or approximately $1.2 billion U.S.). FAST’s board of directors has unanimously recommended that its shareholders accept the offer. In addition, shareholders representing in aggregate 37 percent of the outstanding shares, including FAST’s two largest institutional shareholders, Orkla ASA and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe, have irrevocably undertaken to accept the offer. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of calendar year 2008.

“Enterprise search is becoming an indispensable tool to businesses of all sizes, helping people find, use and share critical business information quickly,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “Until now organizations have been forced to choose between powerful, high-end search technologies or more mainstream, infrastructure solutions. The combination of Microsoft and FAST gives customers a new choice: a single vendor with solutions that span the full range of customer needs.”

The companies possess a number of complementary strengths that advance a shared vision for helping businesses deliver information worker productivity and improved business results. FAST has a deep talent pool and is respected throughout the technology industry for its expertise in best-in-class, high-end search solutions. Microsoft offers worldwide customer reach and an extensive partner network, and is the recognized leader in business productivity with the popular Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, which combines search with best-in-class collaboration, business intelligence, portal and content management capabilities.

“This acquisition gives FAST an exciting way to spread our cutting-edge search technologies and innovations to more and more organizations across the world,” said John Lervik, CEO of FAST. “By joining Microsoft, we can benefit from the momentum behind the SharePoint business productivity platform to really empower a broader set of users through Microsoft’s strong sales and marketing network. It validates FAST’s momentum and leadership in enterprise search.”

In addition to bolstering Microsoft’s enterprise search efforts, this acquisition increases Microsoft’s research and development presence in Europe, complementing existing research teams in Cambridge, England, and Copenhagen, Denmark, with new and significant capabilities in Norway.

The offer will be subject to customary terms and conditions, including receipt of acceptances representing more than 90 percent of FAST shares and voting power on a fully diluted basis, and receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals on terms acceptable to Microsoft. The complete details of the offer, including all terms and conditions, will be contained in the offer document, which is expected to be sent to FAST shareholders during the week of Jan. 14, 2008. The offer will not be made in any jurisdiction in which the making of the offer would not be in compliance with the laws of such jurisdiction. ...

Source: Microsoft Announces Offer to Acquire Fast Search & Transfer
Date Published: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:52:00 GMT

Microsoft Shakes Up The Enterprise Search Market – With FREE Search Server Express 2008

Ken Poore of Forrester highlighted the Microsoft Search Server Express 2008 introduction (yes I am behind on blogging for a week or so :-) ). I especially highlight his conclusion at the end of the post :

... Microsoft today put itself squarely into the enterprise search market by introducing Microsoft Search Server Express 2008. You can download the release candidate from its website and give it a try if you have a Windows 2003 Server with some free space on it. It's free today, and it will be free when it goes to general release in the first quarter of 2008. Don't be fooled by its cost; this is a capable product that will get the attention of anyone considering or in the midst of a search deployment. Search Server will disrupt the strategies of clients and vendors within the already confusing search landscape. It is better than 'good enough' on many fronts, including its connectivity into Documentum and FileNet content repositories — also free — and its unified administration interface. For more insights, take a look at Forrester’s view on the release. ...

... Microsoft is flooding the market with a tool that will fit well within many businesses, and it will cast a threatening shadow over vendors that make specialized SharePoint search solutions. Google should take note, too; the market that they claimed with their search appliances just got very crowded.  ...

Source: Microsoft Shakes Up The Enterprise Search Market – With FREE Search Server Express 2008
Author: Ken Poore
Date Published: Tue, 06 Nov 2007

Forrester: Microsoft: The Latest Disruptor In Enterprise Search

MOre recognition for Microsoft's effort and persistance in Enterprise Search ...

Microsoft makes a very aggressive move into the enterprise search market by introducing the free download of Microsoft Search Server Express 2008 (MSSE), which is sure to disrupt the already confusing search space. Though free, MSSE has a substantial set of capabilities, most notably its connectivity to many intranet- and Internet-based resources, including Microsoft Exchange, IBM's Lotus Notes, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and even EMC's Documentum and IBM's FileNet enterprise content management systems. MSSE trumps Google's search appliances by offering a stronger set of administration, reporting, and connectivity features, and it can be upgraded to the Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS) licensed version that enables multiserver scalability and high availability. Businesses looking at any enterprise or workgroup search deployment should take note: Microsoft has dealt itself in to the search game and with MSSE is placing good-sized bets that it will build even more momentum in its SharePoint workplace strategy.

Source: Microsoft: The Latest Disruptor In Enterprise Search
Author: "Ken Poore"
Date Published: Tue, 06 Nov 2007

Search Server 2008 Express (x86) - RC

This is the release candidate version available for download now ....

Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express helps you bring search to your organization quickly, easily, and for free.

Source: Search Server 2008 Express (x86) - RC
Date Published: Tue, 06 Nov 2007

Microsoft Expands Enterprise Search Offering, Introduces Search Server 2008 Express

Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express is another milstone in Microsoft's Enterprise search portfolio. The release candidate is available now for download

... Today at Enterprise Search Summit West in San Jose, Calif., Microsoft Corp. unveiled Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express, a new addition to its enterprise search lineup. Search Server 2008 Express, which will be available as a free download, combines simplicity of installation and ease of use with a powerful set of search features, including new security-enhanced capabilities that help businesses connect to a wide range of information. A release candidate of Search Server 2008 Express is available today at http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch for download and evaluation.

“Information workers waste as much as 9.5 hours each week on searches that don’t turn up the right information, which can add up to millions of dollars in lost productivity every year*,” said Kirk Koenigsbauer, general manager of the SharePoint Business Group at Microsoft. “We believe there is a core set of enterprise search features that every business should have, and we’re delivering them for free in Search Server 2008 Express.”

In delivering Search Server Express, Microsoft has taken the enterprise class search capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and made them available as a stand-alone server for free. Search Server Express is designed to be easy to configure and administer, allowing IT professionals to go from download to search in as little as 30 minutes. In addition, Search Server Express has no preset document limits, so it will scale to meet a company’s evolving needs. For users, Search Server Express provides advanced security and easy access to relevant, action-oriented results using a familiar Web search experience.

“Our research shows that time wasted searching equals money lost for businesses that haven’t provided effective search,” said Sue Feldman, vice president for Search and Digital Marketplace Technologies, IDC. “This year, with products like Search Server Express, cost is no longer an issue for companies that may have thought such a solution was either too complex, or too expensive.” ...

... Microsoft’s Enterprise Search Portfolio

Search Server 2008 Express is the newest addition to Microsoft’s enterprise search lineup, which includes the new Microsoft Search Server 2008, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

The addition of Search Server 2008 Express allows IT departments to scale their search investment as organizational needs grow. Because products are based on the same core search technology, customers can have enterprise-class capabilities no matter which solution they choose. For example, the new connectors and federation model will work across Search Server 2008 Express and the broader Office SharePoint Server offerings. By using a common platform, Microsoft can offer a range of products that meet the needs of small, medium-sized and large businesses.

More information about Microsoft enterprise search is available at http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch. ...

Source: Microsoft Expands Enterprise Search Offering, Introduces Search Server 2008 Express
Date Published: Tue, 06 Nov 2007

Gartner: Magic Quadrant for Information Access

... This year's Magic Quadrant for information access technology includes two new Leaders. The Challengers quadrant also now includes two new megavendors that were not previously in it, which implies consolidation could be coming closer ...

Very cool, Microsoft happens to be one of these two 'megavendors' in the challengers quadrant ...

Microsoft got the reprint rights for the report, so go and get it : Gartner.com

InfoWorld: Microsoft buys Jellyfish.com comparative shopping site

So much going on in Microsoft its hard to keep up ...

... Microsoft has bought comparative shopping Web site Jellyfish.com, which gives its customers a cut of advertising revenue from retailers, offering a rebate on purchases made through the site.

Microsoft sees Jellyfish.com as a way to augment its e-commerce and search offerings, although no details were immediately available on how the company may transform the site or wrap it into other offerings. Microsoft revealed the acquisition in a blog posting Tuesday, but did not say how much it paid for the site.

"We think the technology has some interesting potential applications as we continue to invest heavily in shopping and commerce as a key component of Live Search," Microsoft's search engine blog announced. ...

Source: Microsoft buys Jellyfish.com comparative shopping site
Author: Jeremy_Kirk@idg.com (Jeremy Kirk)
Date originally published: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:04:06 GMT

Forrester: Microsoft Drives A Wedge Between High And Low-End Enterprise Search

Microsoft does indeed make a big deal about Enterprise Search ... expect the 'gaping holes' compared to best of breed to be addressed over time ...

Microsoft has entered the enterprise search market with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS), joining BEA Systems, Google, IBM, Oracle, SAP, and a long list of pure-plays in a volatile search market. Customers are pleasantly surprised by clear improvements in MOSS's search over search capabilities in previous Microsoft products such as SharePoint Portal Server 2003. While Microsoft's current offering still has gaping holes relative to high-end search products from companies like Autonomy, Endeca Technologies, Fast Search and Transfer (FAST), Vivisimo, and others, Microsoft is now very competitive with entry-level and midmarket search products like the Google Mini, Google Search Appliance, Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g, and others.

Source: Microsoft Drives A Wedge Between High And Low-End Enterprise Search
Author: "Matthew Brown"
Date originally published: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 04:00:00 GMT

Tafiti with Halo3 skin

Tafiti has been updated with an Halo3 skin ... it looks ok as both are very cool things ...

Experience Microsoft Tafiti on tafiti.com

On the Microsoft Tafiti website - www.tafiti.com - you can experience Microsoft Tafiti for yourself ...

First Look: Microsoft Tafiti

Microsoft Tafiti : combining Microsoft Live Search with Silverlight ... 

... About a week back I got an internal email asking us to kick the tires on a new Silverlight/search demo called Tafiti. Tafiti is a mashup that uses the resources of Windows Live Search driven by a Silverlight top layer. The result is a search experience unlike anything you've seen before.
Tafiti (which is the Swahili word for "do research") uses a desktop metaphor to search across media types and even filter your data result set multiple times. So try it out, see what you think, and let the Tafiti crew know if you'd like to see an open source version of Tafiti to play around with. ...

Source: First Look: Microsoft Tafiti
Originally published on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:00:00 GMT by Larry Larsen

Games Boost Microsoft's Search Share

Sure Microsoft still has a long way to go with regards to marketshare of Internet Search. The recent growth in marketshare is related to very creative relations between online games and Search according to the article quoted below.

... No Dumb Clucks: Microsoft Boosts Search Share With Chicken Game

SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft, long stuck in third place behind Google and Yahoo in the search wars, suddenly boosted its share of the market last month by playing a shrewd game of chicken.

Microsoft Corp.'s search share climbed to 13.2 percent in June, a whopping gain of nearly 3 percentage points over the prior month, according to research group comScore data. The company's improvement came at the expense of Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., which both saw share decline more than 1 percent.

But it wasn't the quality of Microsoft's search results that encouraged people to type over 300 million more queries into Microsoft search boxes in June.

It was Chicktionary.

The chicken-themed letter scramble puzzle is one of several addictive Live Search Club games designed to introduce Web users to features of Microsoft's Live Search engine.

When a player enters a word formed from three or more letters displayed by a clucky group of hens, the game automatically triggers a related Web search. A single game of Chicktionary can add 35 or more queries to Microsoft's monthly total, even if the player isn't paying attention to the results. ...

Source: biz.yahoo.com

Microsoft Search Appliance

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search, that a mouthfull, but also a very powerfull Enterprise Search Solution. Various partners have now also started to build Search Appliances like this one below. Expect more, much more in the coming months ...

I've been meaning to blog about this little puppy for a while as James and Mike in my team have been working hard with Scan Computers in the UK to get this in to the market. What is it? In a nustshell, it's a search appliance running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search.

IT Week in the UK covered this last week and it's getting a lot of attention. If you want enterprise class search in a simple unit this could be the answer. Find out more at Mike's blog.

Source : Steve Clayton: Geek In Disguise

MacroView is worldwide winner of the Microsoft Innovative Search Solutions competition

Tom Bizannes of MacroView Business Technology, a Microsoft Goldpartner emailed me this morning about their achievement: worldwide winner of the Innovative Search Solutions competition. Congratulations Tom

MacroView has been judged the worldwide winner of the Innovative Search Solutions competition.

Microsoft conducted that competition to showcase the business potential of the Search facilities in SharePoint Server 2007.

MacroView is heading to Denver, Colorado next week to the Microsoft World Partner Conference to accept the award!

Click here to see an example:

Here is the Microsoft announcement:

“Congratulations to MacroView Business Technology, headquartered in Australia – winner of the Quickstart for Microsoft Search Innovative Solution Contest! Finalists, representing a global field, included IT Consult headquartered in Italy and Workshare headquartered in the U.S.
The contest highlighted how Quickstart Partners have developed solutions that add business value, increase employee productivity and streamline business processes using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search. Numerous entries were received from Quickstart Partners around the world. Finalists and award winner were selected by a panel of Microsoft judges based on excellence and innovation in customer solution delivery and service. “

Interest in WISDOM Message all around the World is growing each month especially in the UK and USA.

Recent Sales include a leading Construction Company in the UK, a large Energy Utility in the USA and a USA Government Agency.

Let us know if you know anyone who wants more information on how MacroView can help you manage their Outlook Messages or enhance their SharePoint Server 2007 searching experience.

The Knowledge Network for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Technical Preview is now officially closed.

Well the time has come to bring our Knowledge Network Technical Preview to a close.  We thank all of you who tried it out and provided us with great feedback and accolades.  It is rewarding to work so hard on something and to see the fantastic results that we achieved.  As a result the next generation of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) will reap the benefits.  So if you are a KN fan rest assured that your passion for Social Networking has had an impact on future releases of MOSS.  It has been a pleasure and honor to work with and for you on this Technical Preview and we look forward to your continued support in the next release of the Microsoft Office System.  To check on the progress of the future of MOSS, visit our SharePoint webpage http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx.  Thanks again for all of your support.

The Knowledge Network for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Technical Preview is now officially closed.

I was part of some beta's of the predecessor of KN when it was still a so called greenhouse project in Microsoft. I was very exited that it had turned into a product so well integrated with SharePoint and disappointed to learn short time later that it was not going to be a full product but 'only' a Technology Preview.

Meanwhile lot's of companies have implemented KN and have provided feedback. Based on the blogpost above I conclude that we can expect KN to surface in the next wave of MOSS ...

InformationWeek: Vendors Vow To Make Web 2.0 More Useful For Businesses

... It's all about collaboration, but don't throw out your Microsoft Office or IBM Lotus system just yet, Google, Zimbra, and SocialText argue.

Web 2.0 can be a very successful enterprise tool, but it's still too immature to completely replace Microsoft Outlook or IBM's Lotus Notes, speakers on a Web 2.0 Expo panel said Wednesday.

Asked how they would pitch a CIO or technical officer on their technology, SocialText co-founder and CEO Ross Mayfield, Matthew Glotzbach with Google Enterprise, and Zimbra co-founder and CEO Satish Dharmaraj all noted that their products add a layer of collaboration and a rich end-user experience that younger employees are demanding.

Employees "are wondering if they are violating corporate e-mail policies all the time when they back up their e-mail to Gmail," Glotzbach said. "But they do it because they know that they will have a larger space to store their e-mail and they can search for messages easier. This is one of the reasons why we started developing Google Docs." ...

Source: InformationWeek.com

Ofcourse this is just a short article on the promise of Web2.0, but why does it have to be so superficial ?

• Is Web2.0 just about Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes ?
• What "layer of collaboration" do the products of these vendors add ?
• Is Web2.0 just for these companies and do they really expect Microsoft and IBM to sit and watch how the Googles and SocialTexts of this world do their magic ?

According to the article for example , one of the the main drivers for Web2.0 based email is the size of the mailbox and this has led to the development of GoogleDocs. Personally I think this is very lame reason and by no means justification web2.0 based solution by themselves.

Compete Blog: Technorati breaking away, leaving Google behind in the dust

 

Compete Blog features a nice post comparing Technorti vs Google Blog Search ... Defenitly a field in which Google is not the searchleader .. by far ...

Yes, Technorati is still very much the most visited blog search engine.

Earlier this week Technorati self reported Q1 numbers – they grew page views by 150% and unique visitors 141%. The bigger question however — how does this growth compare to the #2 player in this space - Google Blog Search?

Link to Technorati breaking away, leaving Google behind in the dust

SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Trial Version

This is the x86 bits version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search (Standard Edition) Trial.

Link to SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Trial Version

Google Out, Microsoft In As Default Live Search In Lenovo PCs

Good to see Live Search is finally making some traction in this market. O by the way, I implemented the new Live Search feature on my blog <--- On the left side

The deal puts Windows Live services in Lenovo-branded PCs, ThinkPad notebooks, and ThinkCentre desktops.

Link to Google Out, Microsoft In As Default Live Search In Lenovo PCs

SharePoint Server 2007 Presentations: Enterprise Search Deep Dives

Enterprise Search is a very important and complex topic in and part of the whole Information Lifecycle in an organisation. From a Microsoft perspective Microsoft Office SharePoint Server plays a crucial role in this process. The presentation in this link give you more insight ...

This download provides six detailed presentations on enterprise search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Link to SharePoint Server 2007 Presentations: Enterprise Search Deep Dives

With Google you Search with MSN you FInd

Borrowing Michael Kogeler's post :

Great video on soapbox about why MSN search is better than Google...

Video: Who Wants to be a Millionaire

Link to With Google you Search with MSN you FInd

Windows Desktop Search 3.0 RTW for Windows XP

This is certainly something you should install now ! Windows Desktop Search is extremely powerfull. There lots of add-ins available for searching through and in PDF's, Lotus Notes stuff, etc.

Windows Desktop Search 3.0 is the technology which enables instant search on your computer. It helps you to find, preview, and use your documents, e-mail, music, photos, and other items. The search engine in Windows Desktop Search 3.0 is a Windows service that is also used by applications such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and OneNote 2007 to index application content and deliver instant results when searching within that application. Windows Desktop Search 3.0 provides fast indexing, improved performance, and improved file type support.
If you choose to install and use Windows Desktop Search, you can search for e-mail, documents and other files located on your computer. No information about the files on your computer will be sent to Microsoft as part of this process. Instead, Windows Desktop Search will index the content of your computer and store the index file on your computer. You can customize Windows Desktop Search to index only specified folders on your computer. Windows Desktop search will not store copies of e-mail or documents after they are deleted. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Download: Microsoft.com

Meet Ms. Dewey

Search witha funny twist. Very cool site :-)

http://msdewey.com/

CRM Today : Organisations Waste 10% of Salary Bill Searching for Information

... The typical information worker now spends up to a quarter of their day searching for the right information to complete a given task...

... A new report, just published by Butler Group, Europe's leading IT research and advisory organisation argues that many organisations are frittering away up to 10% of their staff costs on wasted effort because employees simply can't find the right information to do their jobs. The report, "Enterprise Search and Retrieval", goes on to say that ineffective search and discovery strategies are hampering business competitiveness, impairing service delivery, and putting companies at risk.... 

..."Google's move into the corporate market with the Google Search Appliance has redefined the technology landscape." says Edwards. "Within two years we could finally see Google just as much at home in the enterprise as it is on the Web." However, the Butler Group report points out that both IBM and Microsoft have each announced all-encompassing search strategies, and that their grip on enterprise infrastructure will make these companies very hard to beat in the long run. The report is one of the first to investigate Microsoft's latest SharePoint offering, and assess the impact this product is likely to have on the Enterprise Content Management and BI markets.....

source : CRM Today 

The things are really coming together. SharePoint is the cornerstone in the Microsoft Platform. Enterprise Search through SharePoint is really awesome, because in not only indexes "SharePoint stuff" but standard and through connectors, it searches all your major data sources (yes also Domino databases). Combined with Windows Desktop Search (native in Windows Vista) the search strategy and solutions of Microsoft really start to take off.

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Search Platforms, Q2 2006

Forrester evaluated leading enterprise search platform vendors across approximately 150 criteria and found that Fast Search &amp; Transfer (FAST) and Autonomy established early enterprise search category leadership; thanks to their extensive search capabilities, broad platform focus, and signify cant market presence. Endeca Technologies is also a leader in this space with its mature search management tooling and increased focus on offering search as a platform. Google, IBM, and Microsoft are all strong performers but lack the breadth of capabilities and focus to be considered more broadly as search platforms. Entopia came in as a strong performer with its good support for basic search scenarios, particularly in collaboration environments. Convera, a previous leader in enterprise search, appears to be exiting this market altogether, with declining market share and an ill-defined future strategy.

The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Search Platforms, Q2 2006

Microsoft surely has a way to go when it comes to Enterprise Search. Some of the incumbants are very strong players. The current position according to Forrester looks very promising I must say …

Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 search compares poorly in all categories against other enterprise search products. The current offering lacks even basic search capabilities like spelling correction, white-bar Boolean commands, and word-root stemming for expanding queries. As a result, most companies' employees either don't bother to use SharePoint search or rely on third-party search engines for searching SharePoint content. Indeed, Microsoft itself makes extensive use of independent products from Coveo Solutions, Mondosoft, ISYS Search Software, and others to extend SharePoint capabilities. But the next wave of enhancements shows real promise. Microsoft will standardize on a common search architecture across all of its products, including SharePoint Server 2007, Office Tools, and Outlook, in the fall of 2006 and will embed a search index within the Vista operating system. We'll likely see some real improvements to search within Microsoft applications relative to previous versions, but, in the near term, plan to augment SharePoint Portal 2003 with a third-party product to improve search quality.

Microsoft Is A Strong Performer In Enterprise Search Platforms

Hoeveel zoekmachines gebruikt u?

Dat Google zeer populair is onder internet gebruikers is bekend, wel grappig om te zien dat slechts een relatief klein percentage zich ook beparkt tot 1 zoekmachine ...

Vraag mensen naar hun favoriete zoekmachine en het antwoord zal al snel luiden: Google. Maar als we afgaan op de resultaten van een recent Engels onderzoek, dan moeten we concluderen dat Google misschien wel favoriet is, maar dat dat niet betekent dat andere zoekmachines niet gebruikt wordten. Uit dat onderzoek blijkt namelijk dat maar 24% van de Engelse internetters zich beperkt tot een zoekmachine.

[Via Computer Idee Nieuws]

Microsoft lanceert nieuwe zoekmachine

Microsoft geeft vanaf gisteren een voorproefje van zijn nieuwe zoektechnologie op de Windows Live-website. De softwareproducent wil de concurrentie met Google flink verhevigen.

[Via Computable ICT-nieuws]

Microsoft, Yahoo Talk Search

Although the pair deny acquisition rumors, they are in discussions on the research level, as they combat common rival Google.

[Via eWEEK.com Messaging and Collaboration]

Directions On Microsoft : Enterprise Search Strategy Centers on SharePoint

A recent post on Enterprise Content Management / OpenText raised some questions :-)

As an increasing amount of corporate information is stored in digital form, organizations need tools to find data on intranets and let customers find data on their Web sites, regardless of where data are stored. Microsoft's approach toward this market opportunity—known as enterprise search—has been to develop a single core search technology which the company's product groups then customize for their own audiences. As a consequence, the company faces the intense competition in enterprise search with a fairly consistent, quickly evolving search technology, but also with some gaps in its enterprise search product line.

The company's recommended solution for most types of enterprise search is SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) 2003; SQL Server and Windows Server can also be used for some subsets of enterprise search. ...

Read the whole article over on : DirectionsOnMicrosoft

Microsoft Delivers Free, Comprehensive Desktop Search Capabilities for Enterprise Customers

I have been using Desktop Search for quite a while now and it's great, be sure to give it a try ...

Today at the annual IT Forum, Microsoft Corp. launched Windows® Desktop Search enabled for enterprise deployment, which allows corporate information workers to quickly find and retrieve precisely what they’re looking for on their personal computers, in e-mail and on network file shares from a single starting point. Launching Windows Desktop Search for enterprise deployment is another step toward achieving Microsoft’s vision for enabling a complete enterprise search experience with search across the PC and e-mail through Windows Desktop Search, across the enterprise intranet environment with Microsoft® SharePoint® Portal Server 2003, and across the Web with MSN® Search. The new offering of Windows Desktop Search is easy for IT managers to deploy, customize and manage across all Microsoft Windows XP-based or Windows 2000-based PCs in a corporate environment. This supports a powerful and intuitive search experience that can be integrated with familiar environments such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint Portal Server and other third-party enterprise products ...

Read on : Microsoft PressPass

It's Impossible to Find Stuff

Today's PC interfaces can often be less intuitive than they need to be. The VIBE group at Microsoft Research is developing tools, such as WinCuts, Multiblending and Brain-Computer Interaction, that will enable users to navigate their PCs, and find the documents they care most about, with greater ease.

[Via Microsoft Research News and Headlines]

MSN sterkst groeiende zoekmachine

MSN, de zoekmachine van Microsoft, heeft in juli de sterkste groei gezien in aantal zoekvragen. Er werd dertig procent meer mee gezocht dan een jaar eerder. Of MSN nu ook flink marktaandeel wint op marktleider Google en tweede zoekmachine Yahoo, is echter volgens marktonderzoeker ComScore nog niet duidelijk.

[Via Huize Zeezicht Nieuws]

Extending Your MSN Search Toolbar

Chris Butler, Program Manager for MSN Search posted some updates to the MSN Search Toolbar :

...After a lot of hard work from the people here and our partners you can now see local Weather reports in the MSN Search Toolbar. Just download our brand-new Weather Add-in and you'll be able to view a three day forecast at a glance with one click.  It's the first of many toolbar add-ins that will help you customize your toolbar experience.

You can also download the first partner services to utilize the public Windows Desktop Search Query API from our Applications and Utilities page.  Viapoint allows you to save and display your search results. FolderShare offers the ability to access your PC files via a web browser....

More at Source :MSN Search's WebLog]