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Microsoft Research releasing its own search site to test concepts
Viveri on the floor at Microsoft Research TechFest today.
REDMOND -- Microsoft researchers plan to release their own search site to test their latest technologies separate from the company's Live Search engine. The site, code-named Viveri, was one of the more interesting finds on the floor here today at the company's annual TechFest event.
Although some of the technologies from Viveri could ultimately be incorporated into Live Search, the site will give researchers a way of testing new concepts, and getting public feedback, without going through the formal process of adding them to the main Microsoft search engine, said Robert Rounthwaite, a Microsoft Research software architect.
Researchers expect only the most hard-core search geeks to use it as their primary search site.
"Most people are not going to want to have their lives interrupted by the latest wacky idea we have," Rounthwaite said. "But some people will, and their feedback will help us figure out which ones aren't so wacky."
One of the concepts they were showing today was a feature that automatically puts results from niche search engines in modules next to the main search results. For example, when someone searches for a product, a series of listings from Amazon.com and other "vertical" search tools appears on the screen. A search for tennis elbow brings up a WebMD module.
Another experimental concept brought up a word cloud of additional queries related to the search terms the person just entered.
Microsoft as a whole has struggled in the Internet search business, with less than 9 percent market share in the U.S. But researchers say Viveri shouldn't be viewed as a wholesale replacement for Live Search. Rounthwaite compared it to the way the auto industry uses concept cars to show what might -- or might not -- be coming in the horizon.
Viveri is scheduled for release this summer, according to a Microsoft pamphlet
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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