Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

| This News Blog is dedicated to bringing news, information and innovations targeting the Search Engine Optimisation industry.

Microsoft Unveils Windows Live Search Beta

Innovative new search service delivers compelling new design, new search categories and custom search services; new betas of Windows Live Toolbar and Live.com also launched.

SAN DIEGO - March 7, 2006 - Today at the O'Reilly Emerging Technologies
Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Windows
Live(tm) Search beta, designed to help people simply find the
information on the Web that matters most to them. The new search service
offers a new innovative design with rich viewing and organizational
tools, extensive search categories such as image and local search, and
services that help people customize results. Other core technologies
that complement Windows Live Search, including an updated version of
Live.com and a Windows Live Toolbar beta, were also released today.
These services are now available in the U.S. and in select international
markets in which feature availability will vary.

Christopher Payne, corporate vice president of Windows Live Search at
Microsoft, offered details during a talk at the conference. "We're
unveiling a range of innovations that deliver an outstanding level of
power and simplicity to search," Payne said. "Combined with the rich
browsing and integrated searching services delivered by Windows Live
Toolbar and Live.com, the new search service offers customers the next
generation of unified services today."

New Tools and a New Design for Better Results

Windows Live Search delivers the results users are looking for via a
unique design with advanced tools for helping people quickly find, view,
organize and preview search results. Through new features such as search
preview, scoping tools, a search slider bar that increases the level of
result information on the results page, and smart scrolling that enables
people to view search results without moving from page to page, Windows
Live Search delivers enhanced control over the search experience.
Through simple precision tools, people can search within the context of
the task they are performing and ultimately get their answer fast.

Within Windows Live Search, people can also search across specific
search categories, including all-new image search, news search, RSS
feeds, e-mail search, local search, and searching of MSN(r) Shopping and
MSN Spaces. For example, new viewing capabilities within image search
allow people to search across millions of images and receive results
that feature infinite scrolling, thumbnail-image-sizing customization,
filmstrip view and the ability to see the full image without leaving the
results page. All the Windows Live Search categories will offer the same
rich user experience for viewing and organizing results. Windows Live
Search will also deliver this unified search experience across all the
upcoming Windows Live services, such as Windows Live Messenger and
Windows Live Mail.

Empowering people to customize their Windows Live Search service, Payne
also launched the Windows Live Search Macros beta, which enables people
to save and share specific queries and search scopes and customize their
search results. In his presentation, Payne demonstrated how a search
macro could easily be created, enabling people to search only their
favorite Web sites. Many macros are available today, and macro creation
tools will be available in beta shortly.

Windows Live Toolbar Beta Offers Searching and Browsing Tools

The new Windows Live Toolbar offers people the ability to search from
any Web page using Windows Live Search while helping them easily save,
organize and share the information that they find online. Advanced
protection against phishing and pop-up blocking also help people browse
more safely while they search. Additional features of the beta include
RSS detection and automatic aggregation to a person's personalized
Live.com home page, capability for effortless customization so people
can choose and arrange only the buttons they want, and tabbed browsing
for quicker Web surfing. The Windows Live Toolbar includes technology
from Onfolio Inc., which enables customers to save, collect and share
any part or the full Web page of the information they discover while
searching the Web.

Live.com Delivers New Design and Integration With Windows Live Search

Live.com, the fast, customizable home page for Windows Live, also
released a significant upgrade today, including a new design and
features that help users quickly customize their home page, preview
content, create multiple pages based on their interests, and add their
favorite content from millions of information sources and RSS feeds. For
the first time, Windows Live Search is now available on Live.com, as are
several new, advanced search services that include the ability to add
persistent search results to one's Live.com home page, subscribe to RSS
feeds directly from search results, and view search results in the
advanced contextual format. New and updated gadgets are also available,
including image search, a clock, Windows Live Favorites, stock quotes
and weather. MSN Video and MSN Infopane offer easy access to popular MSN
content. Live.com will continue to be updated with new services based on
customer feedback. All services are available at http://www.live.com.

.

M.P

Adv