Microsoft on Tuesday launched its own internet search engine ”built from the ground up”, entering a new market dominated by rivals Google and Yahoo.
The new proprietary search engine, part of a redesigned MSN home page, gives the world’s largest software company its own search technology, eliminating the underlying search provided up to now by Yahoo.
Microsoft said the search engine, which was unveiled in a test version last November, is now available in 25 markets and 10 languages.
The company said the new MSN Search service ”delivers more relevant results, instant answers to specific questions, and a collection of tools that gives internet users greater control in targeting and refining searches”.
”We’re committed to continuous improvement in the speed, precision and ease of use of our search service,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice-president of the MSN information services.
”This built-from-the-ground-up version of MSN Search provides an infrastructure that enables us to rapidly innovate and give consumers precisely the information they’re looking for, no matter where it’s located.”
Reacting to the effort, Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineWatch.com said the MSN search service ”is good and a welcomed new ‘search voice’ in the space”, but added: ”It does not make a massive leap beyond what’s offered by Google, Yahoo or Ask Jeeves — the other three major search companies that provide their own voices of what’s deemed relevant on the web.”
Analysts say Microsoft’s move is aimed at keeping Explorer and Windows as the main technologies used for the internet, and heading off migrations to other platforms.
It also puts Microsoft in the thick of a lucrative market in which advertisers pay for ”sponsored” search results that appear alongside other results. — Sapa-AFP