Friday, November 12, 2004

MSN Search's beta blunder?

A brutal article at BusinessWeek:
    Nov. 11 was supposed to be a big day for the folks running MSN Search. The new service, albeit a test version, was slated to launch and begin Microsoft's big push into the lucrative and competitive world of Internet search technology. But the day didn't start off too well. The site went down almost as soon as it went up.

    It would be one thing if a startup's beta had sputtered. Not too many folks would have noticed. But this is Microsoft, earth's largest software company. And it trumpeted this test launch with a public-relations campaign to ensure that users around the world knew the service was ready for widespread use. So when MSN Search went down, a bit of Microsoft's credibility in the search-engine business went with it.
Ouchie.

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