Search Wars

MS have just released the MSN Toolbar Suite; having installed it out of mild curiosity, I promptly uninstalled it when I realised that it offers pretty much the same functionality as the Google toolbar and Google Desktop Search (one apparent "extra" is that it adds a toolbar to Outlook). It's becoming clear why MS bought out Lookout earlier this year. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with MS's offering, simply because it seems to be emulating what Google has already done.

It's kind of strange that MS are competing in this area; I guess they're being forced into it. The real ace up their sleeves is WinFS (the "Longhorn" file system), but this won't be released for years.

...And now it seems that IBM are moving into this space with their own corporate search software.