Friday, August 06, 2004

InfoWorld: Yahoo to take on Microsoft in desktop search

InfoWorld: Yahoo to take on Microsoft in desktop search "Yahoo Inc. is hoping to leapfrog Microsoft Corp. by releasing a tool that allows users to quickly and easily search for information on their PCs as well as in their personal files stored at Yahoo's online services, a source familiar with the plan said Wednesday.
...
Yahoo is developing a similar tool but plans to take its capabilities a step further, according to a person familiar with the plan. In addition to letting users search their local mail and hard drive, Yahoo's tool will extend the search to include personal files stored at its online services, such as e-mail, calendar, and picture hosting, the person said."

The most amazing part of this trend, to me, is the fact that local search has been so awful for so long, for most people. I remember Lotus Magellan (now spiritually resurrected as X1) in the waning MS-DOS days; seems the industry hasn't made a lot of progress for local search in the interim, for mainstream users.

No comments: