Longhorn: Organize is the New Search
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Written By Reprise Media | May 3, 2005 | Share This
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It’s kind of like those old RAID commercials from the 80’s - if you want to get rid of a problem - roaches - you’ve got to kill it at its source. In this case, Microsoft’s problem is Google’s ongoing dominance, and the source might be people’s dependence on search. An article yesterday in The […]
It’s kind of like those old RAID commercials from the 80’s - if you want to get rid of a problem - roaches - you’ve got to kill it at its source. In this case, Microsoft’s problem is Google’s ongoing dominance, and the source might be people’s dependence on search. An article yesterday in The Industry Standard talks about an about-face in Microsoft’s Longhorn strategy and what it might mean for the company and its competitors.
Despite a steadily growing investment in search, the upcoming Longhorn system will focus not on integrating Internet search with desktop functionality, but rather on how people organize and find files and documents.
What you talkin’ ’bout Mr. Gates? Wasn’t the whole point of Longhorn was that it was positioned as a Google killer? Well, that’s still the case, but the market’s changed and Microsoft is trying to make sure Longhorn keeps up.
Here’s how:
- Feed Me: More and more people are getting information via ‘push’ methods (RSS, XML) rather than ‘pull’. Users are going to spend less time on the web.
- Tag It: People are taking a more active role in how they store and organize information, systems and labeling are becoming more flexible and customizable.
In accordance with this, Longhorn will have features that make it easier to find data stored on your PC, including the ability for users to create virtual folders based on keywords, defining their own associations. There will also be a dialogue box where users can type in a file or program name and the software will pull it up without the need to open an application. A master list will appear across the top of the screen, allowing you to see all the files in a folder without opening it.
So is this a smart approach, or just backpedaling on a product that didn’t turn out to be everything Microsoft wanted it to be? Only time will tell. Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch says that while better organization is nice, we shouldn’t take for granted people’s continued need to use search engines to access information. The death of search engines is nowhere near nigh:
“That is not going to happen. People aren’t going to subscribe to just what they want, because they don’t know what they want.”
Still, the prospect gives you something to think about. As Cory Kleinschmidt says on Traffick:
“If MS can wean people from the need to search, they have a better chance of undermining Google’s bread and butter - fast and easy information retrieval.”
Topics: Search: Innovations |
Hanging a search strategy on “weaning people from the need to search” is regrettable and short-sighted in the extreme. The fact is, MS has lost its way on search. They do not have an enterprise search offering worthy of the name. They do not have a desktop search worthy of the name. Their MSN search portal is not going to meet any needs except internet users, not windows home or corporate users. Frankly, for a company who has been so long in the business, its very disappointing, and confirms that their disconnect between their strategists and analysts is profound. Its like announcing back in 1995 that rather than provide a web browser to compete, they’re going to persuade everyone not to browse.
MS seems to be completely unable to accept the primacy of search as a systems, application, and internet/network feature that is inseparable from user experience. Information discovery is the key functionality for today’s increasingly savvy users, and denial is not going to assist to reach them. This is a retrograde step to put it mildly.