Introduction

It seems that every time you pick up a magazine, you read about a new search engine making its debut. The search engine industry seems to have become the gold rush of the 21st century.

These sites are competing for our clicks and attention. Right now, the major players are Google, Yahoo, Ask, and Live Search. As a service to our readers, we are interviewing the major players and asking them how their search engine can be useful to IT professionals. Our first interview is with a Microsoft spokesperson. Live Search is in the beginning stages of providing comprehensive services to their users. As an added benefit, we have included screen shots of the different applications alongwith sample search results.

Q.: For our audience of NaSPA (Network and Systems Professionals Association), which top three features would you recommend for these professionals to use at their work site?

A.: We believe that the ubiquitous and seamless search experience that Live Search delivers is unparalleled and customers will find it invaluable in its ability to help them get to the right answer (or image) fast. It's not about the most answers, it's about helping users find the right answer, which is what we are focused on helping users achieve with Live Search.

1. Live Search Maps: Live Search Maps represents an exciting component of Microsoft's Live Search vision which gives consumers a deeply immersive local experience where they can more easily find, discover, plan and share relevant location information that is important to them on the web. Live Search Maps is powered by Virtual Earth, delivering a core set of functionality that combines maps and directions, immersive Bird's Eye and aerial imagery and local search. To try Live Search Maps for yourself, check out http://maps.live.com/.

Figure 1 is Figure 1: The main page for Maps Live.comthe main page for Maps Live.com. The site brings up a comprehensive map of the U.S. and Canada. To see how this works, let's see what the search engine brings up for Oak Creek, WI.(the site for NaSPA's main office).

The search for Oak Creek, WI brings up a very detailed city map in figure 2. From this specific site, you can get more information covering traffic, driving directions, and other points of interest. This site can be useful as a business travel utility.

Figure 2: The search for Oak Creek, WI brings up a very detailed city map.

2. Live Search Academic allows customers to search through academic information and journals. Live Search Academic now indexes several different academic industry journals including computer science, engineering, physics, and bio-medical journals. Check it out at http://academic.live.com.

Figure 3 is a screen shot of the academic.live.com webpage.

Figure 3: A screen shot of the academic.live.com webpage.

This site is still in BETA mode. Here is an opportunity for us as IT professionals to test the features of a new search engine and be able to provide feedback. Live Search would be interested in receiving feedback. If you have any suggestions for improving this site, you can email lsselfbk [at] microsoft [dot] com at Live Search. To see how this site works, we did a search on "Information Technology." The next screen below displays the results.

Figure 4 shows the results of doing a search on Information Technology. What is useful about this screen is that when you click on a result, it brings up an abstract of it on the right hand column. This screen shows a summary of the first search result. This can be helpful in doing a quick evaluation of a search result. You can sort your search results by chronological order, author, journal, and affiliated conference.

Figure 4: The results of doing a search in Information Technology.

3. Customization: We believe we've taken search to the next level with a new design, which enables more interaction and customization of searches. We're continuing to add innovations and are launching rich search categories which are designed to be leading over time, such as image search. Individuals are able to make their Live Search experience their own, seamlessly bringing together the information, relationships and interests they care about.

Q.: How could an IT professional make the best use of these services? Do you know of any IT groups that have made these services a productive part of their job?

A.: A great feature for IT professions is the Live Search Maps plug-in for Microsoft Outlook that brings maps, travel planning meeting enhancements, and a bunch more location-based features to Outlook. This release adds support for Outlook 2007 and Windows Vista. It also brings the 3D mapping experience into Outlook. You can Install it now from http://outlook.maps.live.com

Q.: Does Live Search have any products in beta testing. Which top three would you recommend for our audience to try out to help do their jobs better? Are there any that you would especially like to have the audience of NaSPA test out to help in evaluation of these products?

A.: A great product that is currently in beta testing is Live Search QnA. Live Search QnA is a question-and-answer search service that allows customers to tap into the power of a dynamic, social community online to pose questions, provide answers, and vote for best answers on a variety of topics while keeping the resulting information highly searchable. Check it out at http://qna.live.com.

Another great example of a product that is currently in beta that could be a great resource for your audience is Live Search Books. Live Search Books is advancing the way people discover information, through innovative products and user experiences, and through the integration of content that has been "off-limit" to the traditional Search experience, until now. Check it out at http://books.live.com.

At the QnA live website, you can type in a question and send it to the world at large. It is easy to submit questions. At the home site, you get to see the latest questions on people's minds. It can be a good way of taking a pulse of the world at large. As figure 5 shows (on the right-hand side of the screen), computer questions are a popular category.

Figure 5: QnA live website

Figure 6 is a screen shot for books.live.com. On this site, you can search electronically scanned books that are in the public domain. A search on "wireless" brought up some interesting results.

In Figure 7 you will see there were quite a few books written about "wireless" technologies from way back.

In Figure 8 we take a look at the second result on the list, The A B C of Wireless Telegraphy. The screen brings up the detail of this book as shown below. Live Search Books will tell you where it found every instance of the word "wireless" in this book. As an added feature, the site will take you directly to the page where the words are found.

Figure 6: A search for "wireless" on books.live.com.

Q.: Your firm always seems to be creating more solutions. Are there any on the horizon that will be coming out soon that might especially be useful to the NaSPA audience?

A.: We are continually looking to incorporate new services into our Live Search offering and will be sure to highlight these updates when they become available.

Figure 7: The results of the search on "wireless."

Q.: Are there any tools or features you offer to IT professionals that the other search engines do not offer?

A.: The unified search experience we deliver across Windows Live services is a unique key differentiator between Live Search and other search engine offerings - people are able to count on the same search experience across all of their favorite services - Messenger, Mail, etc.

Figure 8: The detail of one particular book on Live Search Books.

Closing Thoughts

As I finish this article for NaSPA, an interesting situation is unfolding. There are recent news stories about Microsoft possibly doing business with Yahoo. There is even the possibility of a merger. In the meantime, NaSPA will continue to feature this and other search engines and identify ways they can be helpful to you as IT professionals.

We encourage you the reader to explore Live Search and provide us your feedback. If you have any observations or insights you would like to share with other members of NaSPA, please send us an email to editor [at] naspa [dot] com.

NaSPA member Bill Elder is a Technical Writer for Etovia Systems supporting the Department of Homeland Security. Bill is also certified as a Software Tester through the Quality Assurance Institute.