Microsoft Still Needs Help Understanding Search - The Need for Product Improvement
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It's not just about market share though - or at least, not just about buying it outright and wholesale. As Windows Live spokeswoman Whitney Burk explained in a statement, "Currently, we are conducting a trial program through which Microsoft is providing service or training credits to a select number of enterprise customers based on the number of Web search queries conducted by their employees via Live Search. These customers, in turn, are providing valuable feedback to Microsoft on the use of Web search in an enterprise environment. As search evolves into more of a productivity tool, and revenue sharing becomes more commonplace across the industry, we are engaging in mutually beneficial partnerships such as this and our recently announced deal with Lenovo to more easily enable customers to choose Live Search." So it's at least partly about getting the information necessary for improving Microsoft's search engine.
Apparently Microsoft can't pull this off with just the web surfers who choose to use its search engine. There are a number of modern applications that "learn" how to be more relevant the more they're used; consider Amazon's "those who bought X book also bought Y" feature, or how it suggests new items of interest to you when you log in based on what you have searched for and/or purchased before. The more you use it, the better it gets.
This may be why Microsoft's search engine isn't improving fast enough to keep up with Google. As the New York Times explains, "While the quality of results among different search engines is hard to judge objectively, Google enjoys the benefits of a network effect. Its software is tuned to learn from the clicks of its users, and the more users it attracts, the smarter the software evolves, the more users are drawn in, and on the virtuous cycle revolves."
Still, I can't help but think that Microsoft is going about this in the wrong way. Sure, the company can leverage its cash and its installed base to give its search a boost, but will the information it gains be enough to permanently improve its market share? Microsoft is probably hoping that being forced to use the product in the work place will change some search habits in the long term. John Batelle thinks it's more likely to lead to a form of corporate protest against an imposed policy: "How would you feel if, to save a few bucks, the CIO and CFO dictates that you now have to use IE7 preset to Live Search? I can imagine a backlash where usage of Firefox goes way up in large corporations so as to avoid that 'Browser Helper Object' installed in IE7..."
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