The revamped MSN Search remains a front end for technology provided by Yahoo, offering mainly a facelift aimed to make it look more like Google. The relatively minor changes signal that -- after a year in development and $100m (£55m) investment -- Microsoft's ballyhooed search push still has a long way to go.
The new MSN Search features fewer clearly marked sponsored ads. In addition, MSN will host a dedicated "light" search page that the company boasts will out-Google Google in its minimalism. Microsoft also took a step that could distance it from Yahoo, removing search links for now from marketers that pay a fee for inclusion in Yahoo's search index. The changes are expected to improve search results by 50 percent, Microsoft claims.
More significantly, MSN will introduce a homegrown Web crawler and algorithmic search engine in test form, giving Webmasters the chance to vet the system before it is set to launch later this year, according to the timeline of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
"If this is a next-generation airplane, this is only the inside of the engine," Yusuf Mehdi, head of MSN Search, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Microsoft is trying to get ahead in a three-horse race with Google and Yahoo in Web search, but it still has a lot of work to do. No. 1 ranked Google fields 35 percent of all US Internet searches, according to market researcher Comscore Networks. In contrast, Yahoo handles 30 percent of the market and MSN handles 15 percent.
In a further handicap, Microsoft effectively leases its search results from Yahoo and its subsidiary Overture Services, meaning it hasn't even gotten to the starting gate when it comes to back-end technology that increasingly stands as a powerful bridge between consumers and Internet content.
Asked whether Microsoft might consider making acquisitions to catch up with its rivals, Mehdi said he was "open" to the idea, although he would not name potential takeover candidates. Previously in the interview, Mehdi singled out the efforts of Ask Jeeves in developing natural language queries, something Microsoft has said it is interested in improving as a keystone of its pending search products.
Ask Jeeves president Steve Berkowitz suggested he might be open to deal if it was in the interests of the company's shareholders, although he did not comment directly on any offers coming from Microsoft.
Even though Microsoft is coming from behind, the company can't be counted out. Microsoft has made search technology development a top priority, with plans to unveil its own Web crawler later this year. Numerous executives, including chief executive Steve Ballmer, also have lamented the missed opportunity that Google has proven in both serving Web surfers and wooing advertisers, and have promised advancements that will change the way people search.
In addition, Microsoft is working to enhance search applications on the desktop, an arena it could well dominate thanks to its PC operating system monopoly. The company has touted the importance of Web and desktop search for the past year, highlighting its new operating system Longhorn, which will integrate Web and desktop search, but which is still years in the making.
