Phil Bradley's Blog

Friday, November 12, 2004

 
The Guardian Online has given mixed reactions to the beta MSN search. In general they like it, but are not impressed with the limited usability. It's summed up by the closing paragraph which says "In sum, I'd suggest you forget about MSN Search until version three, next year. However, Microsoft has at least shown it has the potential to blow a serious hole in the good ship Google - if ever it gets the usability issues sorted out." I think this is reasonably fair comment - though I like it, it's got a way to go before it's a search engine of choice, and it's still in beta as well. In my opinion, the main problem that Microsoft have got is that they can't just do everything other search engines can do, they've got to do it better. And even then, that's not going to get them the market share they want. It's more a question of user perception - for many people search IS Google. I can't see anyone saying 'MSN it' the way they say 'Google it'. Until they can make inroads into the minds of users, they're going to come off second best, however good the engine.
Phil 12:22 PM