Monday, December 13, 2004

Ask Jeeves desktop search

Andy Beal says Ask Jeeves will be launching their desktop search on Wednesday and gives some details.

Goodie. Now everyone's got one. Google, MSN, Ask, Yahoo, and (soon) AOL.

I'm not sure why these companies are launching poorly differentiated products into a crowded space. Google has some nifty integration with their web search that I kind of like. Other than that, I can't tell the difference between these offerings.

Even if one were better, it's not clear that'd be enough. The only reason this market opportunity exists is that the default search in WinXP and MS Office is poor. As soon as MSN integrates their desktop search into Windows, this game is over.

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