America Online on Thursday confirmed that it is testing a new search engine that scans for files on a PC's hard drive, mirroring a similar product unveiled this week by Google.
AOL's desktop search was not developed in-house but is powered by a third-party's technology, according to a source familiar with the plans. While the source would not reveal AOL's desktop search partner, this person said it was not Google. The desktop search tool is currently being offered as a feature within a test version of a standalone Web browser that AOL is developing, the source said.
AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley confirmed that the desktop search tool is being tested alongside the AOL Browser but declined to elaborate further. She said the AOL Browser will launch as early as November. Separately, the company on Thursday unveiled a redesign of AOL.com. As previously reported, the move highlights AOL's latest attempt to create a popular Web portal. AOL's desktop search engine will take on Google, Microsoft and other rivals looking to expand the success of Web search into new arenas. The move could be a longer reach for AOL, which has so far contributed little to develop is own search technology.
News source: C|Net News.com
AOL's desktop search was not developed in-house but is powered by a third-party's technology, according to a source familiar with the plans. While the source would not reveal AOL's desktop search partner, this person said it was not Google. The desktop search tool is currently being offered as a feature within a test version of a standalone Web browser that AOL is developing, the source said.
AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley confirmed that the desktop search tool is being tested alongside the AOL Browser but declined to elaborate further. She said the AOL Browser will launch as early as November. Separately, the company on Thursday unveiled a redesign of AOL.com. As previously reported, the move highlights AOL's latest attempt to create a popular Web portal. AOL's desktop search engine will take on Google, Microsoft and other rivals looking to expand the success of Web search into new arenas. The move could be a longer reach for AOL, which has so far contributed little to develop is own search technology.

Chat client: You can now use Opera to connect to IRC servers and chat in rooms or privately, send files to other users, and so forth. The chat panel lists previously visited chat rooms and contacts that are on line. Sessions: Opera lets you save a collection of open pages as a session, allowing for retrieval on later start-ups, or in the middle of another session. Opera can also be set up to start with the pages you had open when the browser was last closed. Multiple Document Interface: Opera is by default a Multiple Document Interface application, displaying multiple pages in the same application window, allowing you to resize and pose pages next to each other. However, Opera can also be made to work as a Single Document Interface application, a tabbed application, or with a combination of the Multiple and Single Document Interface, running multiple instances and windows at the same time. Skinning: The entire Opera user interface can be changed by a couple of clicks of the mouse. In addition to the default skins provided, more skins can be downloaded from My Opera. You may also change each skin's color scheme.

X1 is not free... but looks awesome. Filehand is free and looks awesome as well! Man, you got me some real neat stuff to check out.
Last edited by 30086 on 14 Oct 2004 - 23:53
on another note, here's something that not even google can defeat, ever
open up cmd, go to the root of the drive, and type
dir /s wildcard, i.e. dir /s *my*picture*at*the*party*.*
and you get it!
simple as that!
"desktop search" - don't make me laugh
believe me, MS is capable of anything. and *if* there is ever something MS can't do, i am sure that a bunch of lazy dialup retards such as AOL, or even the mighty google for that matter, will not be able to do it either
btw, when was the first time MS announced that?
The second time is of course WinFS and because MS don't have the ability to produce it like others have, meaning without delay and set backs, they have pulled it from Longhorn so they can have more time to work on it which is the exact same thing that happened with Cairo. Maybe one day we will be reading a press release from MS on Neowin explaing how WinFS is more than a vision of the future than an actual product.
when MS pushes a product back to deliver a quality product, its people like you who complain, and when MS realses a product fast but with not all bugs ironed out, it's again people like you who bash MS. people like you are impossible to please, and thus should be ignored.
if you had the slightest idea of the difficulty involved in implementing a file system, let alone a new concept such as WinFS, you'd not be posting your BS here
Others are doing it without these problems, others are developing more advanced OS's without having to say...
"Look guys im really sorry but that whole great product we promised you aint gonna happen, see we don't have the ability to deliver what we promised you and we are really behind, so what we will do to make things better is strip lots of the crucial features and technologies and give you half of what you wanted, oh and chances are we will still charge you the same amount we would of had we been able to actually get the job done on time".
That was my point. Im not a developer, im a user who is getting sick and tired of being dissapointed with the crap MS is giving us. The task is not impossible others are doing it and on time, if it were some guy making it in his spare time i would understand but its MS, the largest software company in the world, the company with the most resources in commercial software thats called doing a half assed job in my opinion. But feel free to keep defending them, we all get a good kick out of it.
AOL & Googles "Desktop Search" is no where near what WinFS is envisioned to be. There also is no other application like it currently avalible.
WinFS is a database server running within the filesystem. Allowing the whole HD to not only be searchable by name, but also by file contents. The complexity of WinFS is amazing, as a result it can be understood why it was pushd back. Also unlike AOL or Google in the case of their "Desktop Search" (which is no more than windows current search merged with their online databases) they dont also have to make it work for third party developers.
As you stated in the end of your last comment you aren't a developer, so dont talk as if you are.
To the end user everything looks easy, that dosent mean it is easy.
I will agree with CdCViRus though, you create us a full WinFS based file system. Do it by X-Mas and then go scream at MS, because you did it quicker!
My point is as a user i am sick of having to put up with the failures of MS, and yes i am forced to use them and i expect a little more for my money.
Apple and BeOS are providing similar technologies than MS as regards to search and they are not pulling it from an OS update because they are unable to keep up, and they have less resources than MS so yes in this respect no matter what you say MS are incompetent, whether it be managment issues behind it or lack of programming ability they have failed in what they promised.
Its like the privilleges example we argued about a while ago, MS have the idea but when it comes to implementing it they fall flat on their face, others manage to do it with less resources so why can't MS.
Also last i heard of BeOS was the project was canceled... This was a few years ago...
While your on there take a look at OS X, it already has most of the features that Longhorn will be getting even the ones have been stripped due to bad managment/poor programming, you in all your wisdom will be able to tell me which one it is, becuase it IS one or the other.
Spotlight searches "Known" (as in what apple has made a interpreter for) filetypes and indexes them. WinFS would index ALL filetypes even down to the binary data. It would also allow you to search network resources as if they were on your network (with the same power), etc...
Read up before you swallow the cheap immatations being fed out by Apple.
Theres the data on Spotlight so you have a basis to read...
You must remember Spotlight is "Metadata" searching not Full Text as well...
Get a read here so you can understand WinFS...
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/longhorn.asp
I will put this in simple terms so you can understand it, i want the best stuff that is available at the time MS are behind, if Longhorn were out now chances are i would be moaning about Apple being behind or not using them at all. Its the same with any aspect of the things i use, my work for example, i used Quark for 6 years and the Adobe bought out a better product so i switched i cant be like you and some of the other people on Neowin and be loyal to one vendor for the hell of it, its not how my mind works.
The difference in this case is because some of the software i use was written for windows i am still forced to use it, and when i use a Mac i can't help but think why can't MS keep up, they are a much bigger company why are they behind.
By your logic MS is behind, because they announced a technology for a future version of windows that isnt released. Apple releases a weaker, cheaper, etc. appication and they win? How does that make any since, seeing the apple application is not the same as WinFS.
There is also a serious difference between MS and Apple. MS works to ensure backwards compatibility this is something apple seriously dosent care about.
But since you seem to want the latest thing not really caring if it works or is relavent. Why dont you just buy a overpriced mac and run Virtual PC 2004 to keep compatibility with your Windows apps?
Your second point also hold just as little relevence to me, VPC isn't powerful enough to run the apps i use in windows at a speed im happy with not to mention the lack of G5 support in previous versions to the one that was released last week. And the price issue is also pointless when talking about me, the only sector the PC market is wins in is the sub $800 market and thats a sector Apple has said it has no intrest in entering and i don't buy cheap machines becuase they are not powerful enough for me, like i said before i like to be always using the best stuff and i do so on both platforms.
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