Wow. Earlier this month, I heard Microsoft execs highlight Live Search Books as a key advance they were doing in search. Today, news that the site along with Live Search Academic are being closed next week, since they lack the "high consumer intent" that Microsoft is now focusing on. So much for trying to seem like the much-needed "good" alternative to Google. From Microsoft's blog post: Today we informed our partners that we are ending the Live Search Books and Live Search Academic projects and that both sites will be taken down next week. Books and scholarly publications wi [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Live Search Academic | Microsoft: Live Search Books

An article in the New York Times today explores the "book search" initiatives at Google and Microsoft and the resistance of some research libraries to participating. The reason cited is that both search providers are asking for exclusivity: "Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set of terms, which include making the material unavailable to other commercial search services." Many research institutions are opting instead to join the Open Content Alliance, which promises public access to the content and information without any restrictions. Yahoo and Microsoft are members of [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search | Microsoft: Live Search Books | Search Engines: Book Search Engines

Today Microsoft announced that they have added in-copyright books to Live Search Books. Microsoft said they have only included books that their publishing partners have given permission to include. In addition, Live Search Books upgraded their design to enable two pane browsing of books. On the left pane are book details with "search inside the book" features, while on the right pane is the book itself. Microsoft says this "makes it easy to scan and preview search results." Some of the features include: - Cover image - Summary of the book - Table of contents previews (where available), [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Live Search Books

Last October, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer gave us a taste of how Microsoft was going to position Google as a copyright leech. Today, Microsoft launched a full-out assault on the company. Google deserves some of this, no doubt. But the idea as Microsoft as some altruistic copyright savior deserves some critical analysis, as well. Below, I'll dissect Microsoft's slams against Google, pointing out where they can be redirected back at Microsoft itself. But overall, I remain in agreement that Google should shift book search to an opt-in basis when dealing with copyrighted works. As noted, last Octobe [...]

Related Topics: Google: Book Search | Google: Critics | Google: General | Legal: Copyright | Legal: Crawling & Indexing | Microsoft: General | Microsoft: Live Search Academic | Microsoft: Live Search Books

The Live Search Blog announced that Microsoft released a beta named Live Search Books this morning. Plus they enhanced Live Search Academic by adding millions of new articles, plus indexing theses, dissertations, and books within these disciplines. The details on Live Search Books Beta: The U.S. beta launch of Live Search Books is a big step forward in advancing the way people discover information through the integration of content that has been “off-limits [...]

Related Topics: Microsoft: Live Search Academic | Microsoft: Live Search Books | Search Engines: Academic Search Engines | Search Engines: Book Search Engines