Microsoft is laying the groundwork for future battles with Google, Yahoo!, and Ask Jeeves over the user desktop.
MSN Toolbar Suite is a new, multifaceted add-on that offers desktop search
of a computer's contents, in competition with Google Desktop and Ask's new desktop searching application scheduled
for release tomorrow. The MSN product puts search forms on Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, Outlook, and the
Windows Deskbar. By default, the program indexes only Outlook files and anything stored in My Documents. But, of
course, the indexing can be expanded to cover the entire hard drive.
It's a gold rush to the desktop. Everyone (Google, Yahoo!, Ask, MSN—plus smaller players like Copernic and Blinkx) is
scrambling to get out a product by year's end.
