Microsoft curtails how long it stores Web searches
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Microsoft Corp. said on Sunday  the software maker was taking new steps to protect consumer  privacy in the areas of Web search and online advertising and  called on the Internet industry to support it.
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Trying to catch up with Google, Microsoft says it will change the way computer users search.
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The service allowed consumers to store credit card information for use on Web sites such as eBay. Microsoft Corp. is abandoning one of its most controversial attempts to dominate the Internet after rival technology
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Late yesterday, Microsoft dropped the "beta" term from Windows Live Search, officially launching the search engine as a 1.0 service.  Missing is some of the glitz that characterized its earlier releases from back in November, but can the simplified Live Search better compete with Google?
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Microsoft Corp. last week released a preview version of its new Internet search engine. It will be available in its final form early next year.
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Redmond unveils its much-hyped search engine. Does the world change?
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Top search engines from Microsoft, Yahoo and Ask say they will store less data about users and delete it sooner.
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(InfoWorld) - Search portal Ask.com plans to make it easier for Web searchers to cover their tracks. The company is introducing a new feature to its Web portal later this year called AskEraser, which will let users perform anonymous searches. When AskEraser is turned on, the Web site will not retain the data it typically stores during a search, said Patrick Crisp, an Ask.com spokesman. "We will allow users to select a privacy setting that says 'I do not want you to retain my data at all,'" he said. If AskEraser is not turned on, the site will store the search query, the IP (Internet Protocol) address and some cookie information from the user, as well as the URL the user visited before coming to Ask.com, Crisp said. Search engines like Ask.com say that they retain this sort of information in order to improve their sites, but this practice has become controversial, with privacy advocates worrying that the data could be leaked or misused. Last year, AOL researchers inadvertently disclosed data on about 650,000 of searches made on the company's Web site. New York Times reporters were able to track down one of the searchers, based on the information contained in the AOL database. Bowing to pressure, Google recently announced that it would make the data it stores about its users anonymous after 18 to 24 months. Ask.com, which is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp., said it plans to implement a similar policy and will no longer link searches to IP addresses after a period of 18 months. That policy will be implemented by year's end, Crisp said. "We are eliminating the possibility of someone associating those queries with the person who made them." AskEraser will be available on the Ask.com and Ask.co.uk Web sites by the end of 2007. It will roll out to other markets next year.
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Microsoft has set a firmer date for the release of its desktop search software, after Google launched a test version of its rival program for scouring a PC&#39;s hard drive.
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Blog: In unprecedented decision, judge orders search engine to turn over user information stored in RAM.  Court allows IP addresses to be blacked out for now.
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Blog: Microsoft's proposed changes to search functions in Windows Vista, per a pact last week with regulators, don't go far enough to promote "user choice," search giant tells antitrust judge in new filing.
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Documents released today detail changes Microsoft will make to its desktop search and indexing feature in Windows Vista.
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Until recently, it was difficult to find news archives on the web more than 30 days old. That's changed in a big way with the advent of Google's News Archive search.
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Google says it would consider keeping search data for longer than 18 months in an opt-in scheme.
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After 14 months of work and a $100 million investment, Microsoft rolled out a test version of its new search engine late Wednesday night.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is removing the beta, or test, tag from Live Search, its next-generation search engine, and making it the underlying search tool at its MSN.com portal. The move comes as Microsoft anxious attempts to gain traction in the search engine market, where it remains a distant third behind leader Google and Yahoo. Because search engine-based advertising is a fast-growing, multibillion-dollar business, Microsoft has invested heavily in improving its search tools and accompanying ad network. But it has failed to make a dent in Google's dominance. In June, Google nabbed 45 percent of all search engine queries in the U.S., while Yahoo got 29 percent and Microsoft 13 percent, according to comScore Networks. This represents a market share reduction for Microsoft of almost 3 percentage points from June 2005. The enhancements in Live Search are notable but many of them are available from other providers, so they aren't likely to boost Microsoft's market share in any significant way, said analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence. "Microsoft has to exceed Google's capabilities, not just match them," Sterling said. "Search engine usage is fairly habitual right now. Microsoft has to come up with dramatic innovations and create an obviously better search experience. That's difficult given the fierce competition." From Tuesday to Thursday, Microsoft will replace the current MSN Search engine on MSN.com with Live Search, which features a revamped image search service, an improved local search, a redesigned user interface and new tools to refine query results, said Derrick Connell, general manager of the Microsoft search business unit. The change will take place progressively on different MSN host servers. When users run a search on MSN.com, they will be taken to a Live Search results page on the Live.com domain, but there will be links there to guide users back to the MSN.com portal, he said. Live SearchÂ went into public beta testingÂ in March at Live.com, the home page of the Live-branded initiative Microsoft launched last year to boost its software-as-a-service offerings. Live.com is also exiting its beta status this week. Among the enhancements in Live Search are new options to view full-size photos in image search results and an increased number of "bird's eye" aerial images in local search, which is shedding its beta label in its U.S. and the U.K. services. Live Search also features a new social search service called QnA, in which users can pose questions and have others chime in with answers. Yahoo, Google and others have similar question-and-answer search services.
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On the day that Microsoft unveiled the beta version of its search tool with 5 billion pages crawled, Google said it surpassed 8 billion Web pages.