Computers

Microsoft Live Search Updated - But does it matter?

futura — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:08:25 GMT

So I read today that Live.com upgraded it's Live Search. I live and die by the search engine when researching information so I'm always up for testing out the "other guy" on the block.

I honestly want to like Live Search. I do like the aesthetic of the search results better than Google's. That hardly matters when the search results are so often irrelevant.

I have two relevant experiences here that I wanted to discuss. First, on my Vista PC at work I gave up on Firefox and went back to Internet Explorer. I love Firefox, but for some reason it is just not fast enough. At any rate, in going back to IE, the default search was Live.com so I said, what the heck.

In my few days of using it, I found a couple of things - but there were more times than not when the results just didn't click for me and I had to new tab to Google. Google just wins. It's as though Google can read my mind and gives 80% different results on nearly every search. (on the front page - do you ever go deeper, except on complex searches?)

So I gave up on Live.com search a few months ago. Then, seeing that it upgraded last night I decided I'd give it one more try.

In a related article I saw that Performance Point Server 2007 had been released. I read a quick article on a new site about it and decided I'd do a quick search and see what I could find. I fired off to live.com search.

I ran two searches:

msdn performance point server

and

performance point server

The first was targeted to get me into some development related content over on the MSDN site. The second was to get me general product info and links hopefully to the main Microsoft sites to get me more info.

I was amazed at the disparity. Live.com really biases blogs and elevates their rankings. You know, that's fine - to get blogs into the picture because they are typically more timely - but rarely are they extremely heavy on content. I find blogs on Google but boy are they good at filtering out the non-content focused blog entries. And besides, if I really want blog links, I'd go to technorati or techmeme anyway.

Google's results for the second search are exactly what I was looking for, whereas the live.com one can't seem to figure out what I'm talking about. I don't care what bloggers have to say - when I search for an EXACT PRODUCT NAME, I'd hope to find factual focused sites on the specified topic.

One thing I may be asking for here is that maybe blog searches need to be filtered out better - on both sites. I read on Lifehacker a while back about doing a date-oriented search on Google which is really cool. But, I'd like that to be an elevated feature. Almost like a toggle on the homepage for "include blogs" and "sort by date [newest first]"

Back to the issue at hand - Live.com, despite the major upgrade, is still not getting me to the relevant content out there. Sure, it's one search. But if they don't win me to their search with one search - how are they ever going to win against Google.

Reading List - 6/14/2005

futura — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 06:22:00 GMT

Current Books On-Tap:

Unspeakable - Facing Up to Evil in an Age of Genocide and Terror - Os Guiness (Harper)
Code Complete 2nd Edition - Steve McConnell (Microsoft Press)
The Art of Project Management - Scott Berkun (O'Reilly)

Upcoming:

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services Step by Step - OLAP Train, Reed Jacobson (Microsoft Press)
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative - Edward R. Tufte (Graphics Press)
Envisioning Information - Edward R. Tufte (Graphics Press)
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick (Vintage)

Podcasting - I'm trying.

futura — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 03:51:00 GMT

My previous post reflected my initial reaction to podcasting.

"Don't believe the hype!" would be the sample that would sound right now if music could be synchronized to this post.

I still think the idea is good, and I've been attempting to identify some good, quality content. Of course, that is said in the context of my own personal interests and tastes. Whatever that is worth to you, I have my official list of podcasts that I'm currently subscribed to and actually enjoying.

In no particular order:

.NET Rocks Radio Show - A radio show hosted by Carl Franklin of Franklins.NET that highlights somebody or group of somebodies in the .NET development community. Always insightful, funny, and high quality content.

Bending Corners - jazz n' groove podcasts - BendingCorners, a monthly jazz~n~groove podcast of jazz and jazz-inspired mix sets. If you enjoy the groove side of all things "jazz", this is your thang. - A very nice mix of downtempo like jazz and dare I say it "neo/new" jazz? It's not acid jazz, and its not strictly downtempo - but very smooth, enjoyable sounds.

IT Conversations - A highly diverse mix of audio streams from various technology conferences by tech leaders/visionaries/etc. This could potentially be described as: if you read about them in Wired, this is them interviewed in podcast form. Sort of. Good stuff, very good content. I'm not really into all the bio-tech stuff, but most of the discussions are good and insightful. Always giving me new stuff to chew on in the tech arena.

Not Your Usual Bollocks - Possibly the best and most fun of the list, this is a show produced out of London which hilights tons of new and great quality music. Very focused on indie/non-mainstream sounds from electronica to punk/rock and everywhere in between. Good stuff.

That is currently my "for sure" list of podcasts that I enjoy. Even with these few, the reality of the medium is definitely causing an overload in information. I subscribe to about 350+ RSS feeds which I get through each day. But with the audio streams, its more difficult to get through everything. I'm always behind on IT Conversations.

I'm looking forward to a new podcast that Carl Franklin is developing called The Daily Commute, which sounds like an awesome idea. Supposedly a show that will highlight and distill all the latest tech news into a podcast that you can then listen to while commuting. My commute is 5-10 minutes, so I'll have to improvise and listen to it elsewhere.

Free Lunch at Google

futura — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 17:34:00 GMT

Via Dare Obasanjo who links to an interesting post about Google's massive use of open-source (free) software and their lack of feedback and contribution back into the open source community. He doesn't leave it at Google, he also mentions Amazon, eBay, and AOL.

I know that Amazon uses Oracle, but I'm sure they have their share of open-source infrastructure there as well.

Krzysztof's outline of the open-source myth hits the nail right on the head:

"The popular theory ("myth” would be a better name) is that open-source works because of this positive feedback loop:

source code for product foo is released
it’s free so it gets used
if it doesn’t fully meet someone’s needs, that someone can code the functionality (since the code is open) and submit the changes back to project (something not possible if you use closed products like Windows or Office or Google)
those contributions improve the product for everyone else, so more people use it so more people contribute the code and so on. Sky is hardly the limit.

The good thing in this theory is that it doesn’t rely on kindness of strangers but on englightened self-interest of those who benefit from free software. The bad thing about this theory is that in theory it works much better than in practice."

ViewSonic V37 PDA - Upgrading to Windows Mobile Edition 2003

futura — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 23:27:00 GMT

I found a ROM image of the 2003 edition for the V37 over here in the downloads section.

Article: Speculation on Microsoft's Internet Explorer Strategy

futura — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 07:38:00 GMT

I finally completed an article that I have been intending to write for a while now. I stumbled upon yet another blog today discussing this same topic, which helped my thoughts to flow and get this jotted down for once.

Definitely interested to hear what others think on this. I find my view in the minority, or nobody else is willing to speculate.

I'm willing to change my view, regardless of whether the article comes across like I would never change my perspective on this. In the end it's all about seeing is believing.

MSN Desktop Toolbar Suite - Where's Dave?

futura — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 04:13:00 GMT

I've been giving the MSN Desktop Toolbar a good deal of play over the past week.

I moved from Dave's Quick Search Deskbar and believing Google could be the only engine that could google.

Although not my final conclusion, I will admit I'm still using it and sticking with it -- but, it has not grown on me like a nice pair of leather shoes. See, I wanted to believe in it with its slick interface and smooth talk. It works very seamlessly, although for me, I'm still not sold on it being the “next big thing”.

Here's why: I'm already an organized freak. I can tell you pretty much where any file on my hard drive is at. I don't memorize file names, no - but I can get there in less than 5 clicks. For content of a relatively greater complexity such as source code and the like - sure I'd have a bit more challenge finding some snippet of great code I needed -- but the search doesn't help me much with that anyway (yes, it indexes it, but it's not compelling enough just for that purpose).

I really miss the functionality of Dave's. A plethora of multiple, powerful searches. Multiple command examples - it is a bit like the command-line of searching - I like that. The ability to customize the MSN search is ok - but not enough to geek out over.

And a feature that makes Dave's hands-down worth it -- RIGHT-CLICK CALENDAR. I find myself longing for that feature at least 3-4 times a day. Double-clicking on the Taskbar clock and getting into that functionless void makes me cringe.

With Dave's, I even get to hide that hideous system clock. The date/time display - a customized display no-less - is built-in.

And last of all... Google wins because only Google can google.

I do a fair amount of searching daily - for code - for in-depth research of a particular technology or methodology to complete some fairly complex task - and I have just not been happy with the MSN Search results. I have to admit, when I'm searching for something I don't know about - I don't necessarily know what should come back (or I would have gone there in the first place, right?) -- but the results that come up sort of fit - but don't.

I've done several Google on MSN Search tests this week, and I have been hands-down ecstatic about the accuracy and most of all the relevancy of the Google results. In my line of searching, I often use Google's main search result page, and open the first 3 or 4 most relevant (not necessarily the first 3 or 4 in the list, but almost always on the first page) based on summary - and then dig from there. Sometimes I chain on down through the sites until I find what I'm looking for. Google always points me in the right direction. MSN Search provides a result that seems relevant, but what it really ends up being is vaguely relevant. It's not that it is out of date, nor incorrect - it just doesn't really end up being what I'm really going after. But mysteriously, Google's results are.

In some ways this makes me wonder if perhaps I have begun searching for things the way Google wants me to search for things. I've always considered myself a pretty saavy searcher. If something is to be found out there on the internet - I can typically hone in on it in relatively short-order. If it is not to be found, I can at least determine that there is not going to be much further information out there about it. I have a knack with keywords -- perhaps the right keywords that Google likes. And I like them too. I do not know why MSN Search would be so much different - but it definitely is.

It's all interesting to ponder for a few seconds, but what I know now is that the MSN Search really hasn't added a tremendous amount of value to my day-to-day. I honestly believe it has taken away value, as I spend more time searching. I believe I will be migrating back to Dave's now. Google + Dave's - the only power search mechanism known to man (for really cheap).

Fortunately, I won't have to spend much time reintroducing... Dave, taskbar. Taskbar, Dave.

Thanks, Dave. Whoever you are.

MSN Toolbar Suite - Desktop Search Test Drive - REVISED

futura — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:07:00 GMT

I finally gave in and am giving Microsoft's foray into "desktop search" a try.

I had reservations, but the more I use it the more I like it. It's very slick.

I realize that any reservations I have about the tool are purely because I don't want to change. Why? Well, I was not impressed with Google's desktop search in the least. I really think Google does web search very well, but the desktop search tool wasn't as rich of an experience as I really wanted on my desktop.. Thus, going into this, I had very low expectations - and yet a bad taste in my mouth because of the Google letdown.

I feel a bit sad that this essentially seals Index Services fate -- from the standpoint of being a value-add to the XP Professional level of OS. Why couldn't Microsoft have put a "pretty skin" on Index Services before now? I understand this is not simply a front for Index Services - but they were obviously able to borrow from that codebase for their "indexer". I'd like some clarification from Microsoft on the usage scenarios for Index Services verse MSN Desktop Search on the end-user workstation. Servers are obviously a different story.

Second, I'm rather disappointed in the lack of out-of-box support for MP3 (and OGG) which are both fairly popular file formats. Just because there are an army of people that HAVE Media Player doesn't necessarily mean we all use it, nor that we are extensively based on WMA. I have 100+ GB of MP3/OGG music that is now inaccessible from this search. It might just be me, but I can't even seem to get them to show up in the file search. REVISED: I blabbed this before I actually figured out how the tool worked - my mistake! In Index Options... I had “Email and All Hard Disks“ selected - so naturally I thought it would index all my hard drives. WRONG. It seems to only index your C: and D: drives. However, I also have an E: and an F: By selecting Specific Locations and marking my E: and F: drives - I was then able to index my ever-growing library of music.

Finally, if you are a user of Dave's Quick Search Deskbar, as I have for the last year or so, you will find Microsoft's Search very slick in terms of interface - but in terms of functionality has some way to go. I'd like to see some sort of "advanced" plug-in functionality that could be built-in to this using .NET, or JavaScript - I don't care - so that a richer search experience could be value-added onto the system.

If you're wondering how to get the tacky buttons out of your way on your task bar, use this:

The registry hack to disable the buttons on the MSN Deskbar task bar search is

HKEY_USERS\[YOUR SID]\Software\Microsoft\MSN Apps\DB
Add a key: Buttons : DWORD = 1

My File Type

futura — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 18:52:00 GMT

Which File Extension are You?

Microsoft gets Blu-Ray codec win for WM9.

futura — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 01:50:00 GMT

“The Blu-ray Disc Association (BRDA) has selected Microsoft's VC-9 video codec for future BD-ROM content, the organisation said today.” (from The Register)

“A standards win on DVDs would dramatically buoy Microsoft's ambitions to take its multimedia technology beyond the Internet. It also could give the Redmond, Wash., giant substantial credibility when it shops its codec to partners outside of the PC business.“ (from ZDNet)