p2pnet.net News:- Microsoft has unveiled the beta of its new MSN Toolbar Suite with a desktop search function, “that helps consumers quickly find virtually any type of document, media file or e-mail message on their Windows-based personal computer,” it promises.

The suite includes an updated version of MSN Toolbar for Internet Explorer and new toolbars accessible through Windows and Microsoft Office Outlook.

They are MSN Deskbar for the Windows desktop, MSN Toolbar for Microsoft – Office Outlook and MSN Toolbar for Microsoft Windows Explorer.

And apparently, Ask Jeeves plans to release a desktop-search product this month, says eWeek, going that its user interface, “will focus on buttons and tabs for narrowing queries and search results. Once users enter a query for a file, e-mail or the Web, they will see all their results in that category but can choose among a series of tabs to narrow results.”

Google got the ball rolling in October with a beta of its desktop search, which received a very mixed reception because of privacy concerns.

The fuss seems to have died down. However, Microsoft isn’t the most trusted company in town and whether or not concerns will be sparked again with the arrival of the MSN Toolbar Suite remains to be seen.

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See:-
unveiled - Microsoft Introduces MSN Toolbar Suite Beta With Desktop Search, Microsoft, December 13, 2004
buttons and tabs – Ask Jeeves to Launch Desktop Search, eWeek, December 14, 2004

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