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Date: 29 March 2004
The fight for internet search supremacy continued today as Google launched three new offerings, including a new search engine designed to match search results to individual users' preferences.
The new Google Personalised Web Search and Google Web Alerts, both debuting in Google labs today, enable searchers to specify what interests them and receive customised results based on those interests. Users can control the degree of personalisation in their results using a slider and will see results change as the degree of personalisation changes. The search giant said it has also made changes to the Google interface to improve speed and accessibility of its search offerings, as well providing easier access to the Froogle product search service, which also has a new interface. The release comes at the same time as rival Microsoft is reportedly preparing to launch several of its own new search services. According to PA, Microsoft is working on search services for news and web logs, called MSN Newsbot and MSN Blogbot, both of which will be available later this year. MSN Newsbot, which will gather news from 4,000 sources worldwide, is currently being tested at http://newsbot.msn.com. The PA article also said that Microsoft is developing a natural language search engine, dubbed MSN Answerbot, which will take questions from users and find answers on the internet, rivaling a similar service from Ask Jeeves. No release has been set, but Karen Redetzki, an MSN product manager told PA that it is about three years away. Speaking at an online advertising conference held at Microsoft HQ last week, CEO Steve Ballmer admitted that one big misstep by Microsoft over the past few years is that the company did not put resources toward in-house research and development of search technology. His comments echo a speech by chairman Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum in January, where he admitted that Microsoft had underestimated how successful Google would be, and that the search giant had "kicked our butts". Meanwhile, Yahoo, which recently replaced Google search technology with its own brand new search engine, bought European online shopping comparison service Kelkoo last week, extending its reach in Europe and giving it access to Kelkoo's product search technology. 10 March 2004: Google unlikely to achieve search 'treble', says Forrester 2 March 2004: Yahoo sharpens its claws 18 November 2004: Microsoft v Google - MS launches news search beta Right to Reply
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