[Sigia-l] Microsoft's Google-killer arrives with a 'whuh?'

[Stewart Dean]

Been thinking about this.

Google is a great case for good user experience. It is mostly down to the 
library but the skill of knowing what kind of results people want is, I 
believe, both an art and a science.

There was a great interview with Greig Silverstein from google in Slashdot 
where he was asked what drives innovation - is it the hardware of the 
software team.  The answer started..

"Actually, the innovation is driven neither by hardware or software, but by 
products. We look around and say, "What would be the next great product to 
have?""

Microsoft have a philosophical problem in that they think like engineers, 
not architects. They have built a fast search engine, with lots of clever 
features but if the results arnt so good the user experience will not be as 
good. Also the interface - google is simple and quirky. Also I've used it a 
few times and can't remember what the url is - it's something like MSN 
search.  I use hotmail but I don't want, need, or have any respect for MSN 
even though it's up there in the tool bar. In brand terms it's the pushy 
friend of a the girl you really like that you put up with.

Now that push friend wants a date in terms of a search engine. I'm not that 
keen to be honest.

Whilst I'm mid flow - why did the break the usability of hotmail recently by 
moving the action buttons for attachements to ABOVE the information you are 
entering.

Sorry got side tracked.

http://beta.search.msn.com

Looks kinda ugly as well. Just noticed - when get a blank search it has two 
search boxes?  Huh?

Bad user experience, bad.

Stew Dean





>From: "Boniface Lau" <boniface_lau at compuserve.com>
>To: "'sigia l'" <sigia-l at asis.org>
>Subject: [Sigia-l] Microsoft's Google-killer arrives with a 'whuh?'
>Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 15:18:39 -0500
>
>
>Microsoft's Google-killer arrives with a 'whuh?'
>
>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/12/microsofts_google_killer_arrives
>/print.html
>
>MSGK> If the cult of "information" is as important as technophiliacs
>MSGK> tell us it is, we need to develop social mechanisms, not fancier
>MSGK> search engines, to get us to the Holy Land. Don't look to the
>MSGK> privatized information scavengers of the web for answers.
>MSGK>
>MSGK> So all the while we were consumed with the "search engine wars",
>MSGK> what we were really looking at was the "library wars". And
>MSGK> whoever has the best library wins, in this case.
>
>
>Boniface
>
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