AOL to have desktop searching in new browser
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America Online will have a desktop search capability in a new browser the company is now beta-testing, an AOL spokeswoman said Friday.
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I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Googleâs new Desktop Search program works great on a hard disk full of old e-mails and downloaded Web pages.
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Microsoft on Monday released its promised desktop search application, focusing on adding local e-mail and file search into MSN&#39;s browser toolbar, Outlook and the Windows operating system.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft will make changes to its desktop search program following aÂ complaint to the U.S. Department of JusticeÂ (DOJ) by Google. Google suggested in a white paper submitted to the DOJ earlier this year that Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system puts other search software companies at a disadvantage, making it difficult for users to utilize non-Microsoft desktop-search software. Microsoft has reached an agreement with the DOJ to make it easier for end users to employ desktop search programs made by rival software developers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Microsoft will also provide more documentation and information to developers about how to make those search programs run smoothly, it said. The changes will be included in Microsoft's firstÂ Vista update, called Service Pack 1, slated to be released later this year, the report said. California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Microsoft had agreed to make the "significant changes" in Vista operating system to stay in compliance with a U.S. court agreement in Microsoft's antitrust case. Brown's office intervened in the wake of reports that Microsoft's new operating system included a desktop search function called "Instant Search" that violated terms of its agreement to open its products to more competition. Google, which offers the most popular search engine on the Internet, said "Instant Search" is a "Microsoft middleware product," which is subject to the federal agreement in the antitrust case. The State of California contended that Vistaâs desktop search feature is a functionality that did not exist in prior Windows operating systems and is therefore covered under the agreement. Brown said Microsoft will provide users and computer manufacturers, such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell, with greater flexibility to choose and access competing desktop search products. The agreement was included in a joint status report that was filed Wednesday with federal District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., who presided over the 2002 agreement in the case. "This agreement -- while not perfect -- is a positive step towards greater competition in the software industry," said Brown. "It will enhance the ability of consumers to select the desktop search tool of their choice." "Microsoft believes that Google's complaint is without merit," Microsoft's lawyers wrote in the status report. "Nevertheless, Microsoft worked with the Plaintiffs in a spirit of cooperation to resolve any issues the complaint may raise." Google said the search changes are welcome but more needs to be done. "Microsoft's current approach to Vista desktop search clearly violates the consent decree and limits consumer choice," said David Drummond, Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer. "These remedies are a step in the right direction, but they should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers." Microsoft was found to be operating an illegal monopoly in software by another U.S. District Judge in Washington. Microsoft entered into a settlement agreement with the federal government and attorneys general for several U.S. states to abide by certain rules to allow more competition. Microsoft had originally denied that its own desktop search interfered with non-Microsoft indexing software, noting that its search indexing could be turned off, although with some difficulty. The Redmond company also seemed to have the DOJ, its former antitrust foe, on its side: Thomas O. Barnett, now the DOJ's top-ranking antitrust official,Â recommended that the DOJ and state attorneys general rejectÂ Google's complaint, according to a New York Times report earlier this month. As part of the desktop search agreement, software vendors will be able to register their products as alternatives for the Vista search. The default search selected by the computer user or OEM will launch whenever Vista launches a search result window, and the default search will have space in Vista's start menu. Microsoft will also tell software vendors and OEMs that the desktop search index in Vista is designed to run in the background and "cede precedence over computing resources to any other software product, including third-party search products," the DOJ said in its portion of the status report. "Microsoft will emphasize that there is no technical reason why OEMs and end-users cannot, if they choose to, install additional desktop search products on their systems." The plaintiffs in the case, including 17 states that sued Microsoft for antitrust, are "collectively satisfied that this agreement will resolve any issues" in the Google complaint, the DOJ said. Elsewhere in the status report, the DOJ said a technical committee overseeing Microsoft's compliance has hired two consulting firms to check Microsoft's procedures for identifying communications protocols that it is required to disclose to independent software vendors who want to make their products interoperable with Microsoft's. In March, Microsoft and the plaintiffs reached an agreement to address concerns over the belated discovery of protocols that plaintiffs believed needed to be disclosed. The technical committee will extend a royalty-free program for software vendors to receive the protocols, the DOJ said. The royalty-free program will continue 18 months after the date the committee decides the protocol documentation is substantially complete, and the technical committee can extend the program if it believe Microsoft isn't making progress on the documentation, the DOJ said. But Microsoft is on schedule with a plan to fix technical documentation used by other software vendors, the DOJ said. Errors in the technical documentation have prompted repeated complaints from the antitrust plaintiffs in recent months, but the DOJ said Microsoft has been able "to keep up with the flow of new technical documentation issues." This story was updated on June 20, 2007
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SAN FRANCISCO - After being written off by industry observers last year, America Online Inc.&#39;s browser unit showed signs of life Tuesday as it released an update to its Netscape Web browser.
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INTERNET giant Google has taken its searching tools one step further with a service for individual desktops. Its new desktop search application means users can search their email, files, web history, and chats
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Internet company Yahoo announced yesterday that it is at work on a desktop search product. The offering would allow people to search their own PCs as easily as they can currently search the internet.
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Mozilla Firefox has Google, Yahoo and other search tools baked in, but they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to search capabilities available with this innovative new web browser that launched its first official version today.
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America online is currently beta testing a dramatically modified Internet Explorer based Web browser it calls "AOL Browser." AOL Browser is independent from the AOL client software and can be run as a standalone application. But the decision to use Microsoft's IE core has caught many industry watchers by surprise.
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AOL said Friday it was beginning to beta test a new version of its search product on a limited basis, making enhancements that will benefit those users who have broadband access.
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The long-rumoured Google desktop search is now available for download from desktop.google.com. The new beta application allows users to index and search their emails, documents, Web history and instant messenger chats.
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AOL is now free to folks who arrive via speedy broadband connections. And as part of that free service, AOL this week launched downloadable software called OpenRide.  The latest software is built around a "quad-view interface" with four visible panes on a single screen. When you click on any of them, the pane in question automatically resizes, taking up most of the screen. You can manually resize the panes as well.
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America Online, Inc. is reported to be developing a Web browser based on Microsoft Internet Explorer technology. It is not known when the browser will be released
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com December 9, 2004, 9:00 PM PT. In a step to keep pace with chief rival Google, Yahoo plans to start testing a downloadable desktop search application in early January.
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America Online Inc. (AOL) is aiming to get a piece of the travel search market, announcing plans Friday to introduce a new Web-based property to compete with the likes of Travelocity.com and Expedia Inc.
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SAN FRANCISCO - After being written off by industry observers last year, America Online Inc.'s browser unit showed signs of life Tuesday as it released an update to its Netscape Web browser.
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Google has finally announced Google Desktop Search, a search application that enables users to search their email, files, web history, and chats.