subject: Microsoft's Live Search [print this page] Live Search is the name of Microsofts web search engine. Currently, it is the third most used search engine in North America after Google and Yahoo! Originally called MSN Search, Live Search was launched in the fall l of 1998. At first, it used search results provided by Inktomi, a search engine that had been developed by professors a UC Berkley in the mid-1990s. Inktomi later went bankrupt in the 2000-2001 dot.com bust and was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! In early 1999, a version of MSN Search was launched which displayed listings from Looksmart (a search advertising network and management solutions company based in San Francisco that provides search advertising products and services to text advertisers, as well as targeted pay-per-click search and contextual advertising) in combination with results from Inktomi except for a short time in 1999 when results from AltaVistas search engine were used instead. Subsequently however Microsoft upgraded MSN Search to provide its own Microsoft-built search engine results (list of web addresses with samples of content that meet a users query), the index of which is updated on a regular basis. The first beta version of Live Search to be released to the public debuted on March *, 2006, with the final release on September 11, 2006 replacing MSN Search. On March 21, 2007, it was announced that Microsoft would separate its Live Search developments from the Windows Live services family. Live Search was integrated into the Live Search and Ad Platform headed by Satya Nadella, part of Microsofts Platform and Systems division. As part of the change, Live Search was consolidated with Microsoft ad Center. As part of the changeover from MSN Search to Live Search, Microsoft also started performing their own image search, using their own internal image search algorithms (this work had previously been outsourced). Live Search offers users the ability to search for specific types of information using search tabs that include Web, news, images, music, desktop, local and Microsoft Encarta (is a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft). A configuration menu is also available to change the default search engine in Internet Explorer. Features offered by Live Search include the ability to view additional search results on the same web page (instead of needing to click through to subsequent search result pages) and the ability to dynamically adjust the amount of information displayed for each search-result (i.e. just the title, a short summary or a longer summary). It also allows the user to save searches and see them updated automatically on Live.com. Live Search is not limited to reporting back indexed pages that mach an ordinary search query. When entering a search query using multiple words Live Search will search results trying to match all the keywords. It also has advanced search options entering advance options in the search query. Since early2009, Microsoft has been internally developing a new search engine that may eventually replace Live Search. This new engine, currently named Kumo, will be different from Googles search in that results are categorized, however like Google, Kumo will likely sell advertising space in the form of sponsored links displayed with each search.
