New MSN Search – down
p2pnet.net News:- It’s official.
Microsoft is going after Google and Yahoo! (but mainly Google) all weapon ports uncovered.
Yesterday, thanks to judicious leaks from Bill and the Boyz, the media splashed Microsoft to launch MSN Search and today, thanks to Microsoft’s official announcement, it’s Microsoft launches MSN Search.
It’s called getting two bangs fer yer buck.
But when we tried it at 5:50 am Pacific, after a long wait, all we we got was, “This site is temporarily unavailable, please check back soon. Didn’t get the results you expected? Help us improve.”
That was using Opera. We tried it in Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox. Same thing.
We tried it again at 6:10 am. Still down.
Microsoft was not, as they say, immediately available for comment.
Anyway, Microsoft’s beta MSN Search is available today in theory and, “allows consumers to quickly receive relevant answers from a universe of more than 5 billion Web documents,” says the company, which has been using Inktomi search engines for MSN websites.
However, last year Yahoo! bought Inktomi, not to speak of Overture which supplies MSN sponsored search listings.
MSN Search is has an index of more than five billion Web documents is one of the largest indexes offered today. With more items being added continually, the new search engine increases consumers’ chances of finding the information they want.
The most up-to-date information. The index, much of which is updated weekly or even daily, provides the most relevant, timely and accurate data as quickly as possible, while minimizing frustrating dead links.
Microsoft says its search product can turn out results tailored to a specific locations because it assigns geographical information to Web pages as they’re indexed.
“MSN Search users can customize search results by emphasizing or de-emphasizing certain search criteria, such as specific sites or domains, countries, regions, or languages,” it says.
“Consumers who want to apply specific criteria to their searches can visit a menu of adjustable on-screen dials for each criterion. The dials can be reset when consumers’ criteria change. A consumer who needs current facts and figures can adjust the dial to emphasize the most updated results, and someone looking for the official Web site of a favorite television show can adjust the dial to emphasize the most popular results.”
Go here to try it out.
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UPDATE:- Although under Microsoft Resources with Microsoft Launches Beta Version of New MSN Search Service as the header, Microsoft itself gives the beta url as http://beta.search.msn.com/ (the same as our link), a Reader’s Write suggests http://search.msn.com/.
That works.
In the meanwhile, Google says it’s doubled its index to eight billion pages.
November 11th, 2004 at 2:15 pm
Google now indexes 8 billion sites.
November 11th, 2004 at 2:26 pm
See http://p2pnet.net/story/2970
Cheers!
November 11th, 2004 at 2:31 pm
I thought you’d probably write something about it
November 11th, 2004 at 2:42 pm
MSN already down. Must have been infected with a virus. I wonder if they are running this on Windows at all?
November 11th, 2004 at 2:49 pm
Tried it this morning with a simple search… after 5 seconds, abandoned the page. Slow, slow, slow.
November 11th, 2004 at 2:52 pm
Sweating boyz?
November 11th, 2004 at 2:57 pm
Worst article i have ever read. Try to proofread next time.
why go to the beta site. go to http://search.msn.com/ . Yeah it worked from Mozilla.
November 11th, 2004 at 2:57 pm
The thought that Microsoft can think of anything original or creative belongs only to the ignorant. I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft paid off some bottom-rung employee at Google to steal listings of 5 billion websites, or take some of thier coding and give it a makeover (which borders on the illegal).
I wonder why Microsoft has that need that urge to monopolize the global markets with everything? Aren’t they smart enough to know when to quit?
November 11th, 2004 at 2:58 pm
Try searching “what is the best search engine?” or “cars” and the results come up quickly … but anything non-standard – even “im” takes forever and then fails
November 11th, 2004 at 3:01 pm
Still Down 10:01 Am EST.
SA
November 11th, 2004 at 3:06 pm
it is still DOWN
November 11th, 2004 at 3:17 pm
They want to be the standard for everything that involves PCs. Its the ultimate holy grail for any large software company.
November 11th, 2004 at 3:25 pm
For a new creative idea at search engines try http://www.clusty.com
November 11th, 2004 at 3:26 pm
the site that is stated in some of the RE’s are showing MSN Search —
Not the same………
November 11th, 2004 at 3:28 pm
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=beta.search.msn.com
November 11th, 2004 at 3:38 pm
Not really being a fan of Microsofts’ attempts to steal the spotlight I went into the search expecting crap, and thus i received it. No news sources, bad error checking (if nul value is entered), and even though they boast to have indexed 5billion pages … didnt google just reach 8 billion? i know who im going to stick with.
November 11th, 2004 at 3:38 pm
m$ sucks !
November 11th, 2004 at 3:43 pm
*why go to the beta site* – cause thats where they tell you to go. beta means beta. get it?
November 11th, 2004 at 3:46 pm
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=1044
They couldn’t make it work either. So stfu.
November 11th, 2004 at 5:16 pm
It all depends upon what you search for … Searches for Opera or Firefox returned zilch. A search for Microsoft returned a single result.
Search for nude? Thousands of hits.
Strange too … A search for bloodfetish didn’t return the domain that carries the name, though it picked up another site (Bloodmuse) which mentions Bloodfetish.
All in all, I have to give MSN search a business-as-usual-from-Microsoft: It works as well as any other Microsoft product.