Microsoft is releasing Live Search Books, its competitor to Google Book Search, in beta on Wednesday.
The book search engine performs keyword searches for books that have been scanned as part of Microsoft's book scanning project, in the same way that Windows Live Search searches the Internet, said Danielle Tiedt, the general manager of Live Search Selection for Microsoft.
Initially, the Live Search Books database will be searchable from the book search engine's beta home page, or as a category on the main Windows Live Search page--a method referred to as vertical search. Once the tool is out of beta, Microsoft plans to incorporate all of the scanned publications into its general Internet search engine. The company hopes to do this in the next six months, according to Tiedt.
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I do like Windows Live, but sometimes a clumsy impression is given during use. Theres no consistancy (ie the pop down menu only appears on some pages and not others), the live.com personalised page doesnt allow you to search directly for images, maps etc without searching, THEN clicking a category on the next page.
I do like images, v nice scalable feature, and the idea of collections is nice too in maps. I guess what I am trying to say is, their products are generally good, just not consistant, or innovative.
Ill stop rambling now :-)
Google still has the best database but I like MS's GUI/UI more
You like the MS GUI more?? It's a f-ing copy of the Google interface!!
I'd never seen live.con before but OMG they really did their best to make it look like Google. I imagine they want to make sure that when people install Windows and get presented with Live.com by default they won't feel the need to switch to Google.
Edit: Apologies, didn't read your post properly, silly me
Either way, doesnt change the fact it looks nothing like Google
Last edited by Tammm on 06 Dec 2006 - 18:50
The Google concept and interface was taken from Amazon.com which had searchable books before the Google print service.
The difference is that its implementation was purposefully limited on the part of the user, due to copyright concerns, because it was for books in print as sold by Amazon. The user could not look through the book, only go to pages with search terms matched by the users search.
But people are going to hail Google as the great innovator and Microsoft as the measley copier, just like Apple vs Microsoft.
Its true though, that its obvious that the Live initiative is meant as a competitor to Google, so the fact that Microsoft is doing this at all is somewhat a copy. Though Google itself diverted from just plain web search because a lot of people view its platform as a way to compete with Microsoft. It was at some time obvious to incorporate book search into a field of search abilities.
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