Microsoft Live Search gets a slight facelift

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Search

Microsoft Live Search gets a slight facelift

by Christina Warren Mar 15th 2008

Granted, this update is less dramatic than the overhaul the service received back in September, but then, how many of us really remember that update anyway?

The biggest change is that the blue toolbar that accompanies the top of each page has been replaced with something much smaller (though still blue), which gives the overall results a cleaner look. The search button has also been replaced with a small magnifying glass icon. Check out some before and after pictures after the jump.

Before:

After:

We have to say, Google is still tops in our book for default web searches -- but Live's Academic search is pretty awesome. It totally blows Google Scholar out of the water.

Thanks to our resident Microsoft watchdog Michael/Quikboy for the tip!

[via Microsoft and the Future]

Tags: live search, LiveSearch, microsoft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

yabun said 8:13PM on 3-15-2008

Microsoft has a search page??? Since when??

Josh said 8:39PM on 3-15-2008

Why do they even bother? They can't even begin to compare to Google, Yahoo, and Ask. They should use their resources in departments that actually need them. Namely their software and OS divisions. Or give a few more to the Xbox division so we can see the 720 sooner.

Kevin said 10:21PM on 3-15-2008

Last time I checked Google didn't shut down

RP said 11:45PM on 3-15-2008

I use Google, but Live also wins on Maps, where they have a very impressive "BirdsEye View" feature. It blows away Google's street view.

Eros said 2:41AM on 3-16-2008

Also Live image & video search are way batter then google's

Geoff Fox said 10:35AM on 3-16-2008

When I look at my own website's logs (www.geofffox.com), I see a major difference between Live and the other search engines:

(numbers are crawler hits+robots.txt reads and bandwidth consumed)

Yahoo Slurp 23741+290 176.70 MB
Googlebot 10674+17 124.70 MB
MSNBot 952+198 11.03 MB

Live is crawling 4% of what Yahoo does and 9% of Google.

Will the world rise or fall on the content on my site? No. But if you're going to be an authority as a search site, you need me and all the other little players. Sometimes we have niche information worth using.

burnblue said 6:05PM on 3-16-2008

Google Image Search doesn't have a very refined or useful interface, so Live wins there. Just a couple days ago Live Maps helped me find what I needed (nearby restaurants) when Google wasn't being very helpful, so Microsoft wins there again. Even Ask.com's default search results page offers quicker answers than Google quite often for certain types of searches.
So why is Google's search still cooler/easier? Is it purely habit?

Mark said 6:59PM on 3-16-2008

Live Search is actually a very good search engine, despite what the Microsoft haters and Google fanboys will say. Now Google is still better overall in my opinion, but Live is very good also and beats it in some ways.

michael said 1:16AM on 3-17-2008

You're welcome. :)

I don't try to be an MS fanboy, but yeah, I couldn't help but tell you about this one. I'm kinda glad they revamped to a simplified look.

Live Academic/Google Scholar is ok.

But you guys should check out Live Image and Video Search. They kind of really knock Google out of the water on that one for sure.

Koolio said 1:36AM on 3-17-2008

I got a map like this when I used Live Map

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/6348/livemapyb2.jpg

michael said 2:16PM on 3-17-2008

The black space with etched lines represents there's more. You just have to pan around towards it to see it. These are pretty high-rendered views, and refreshing the whole map would take a bit longer.

So they show a good bit of the next area so it might be good enough without having to reload more imaging.

Spencer said 9:25AM on 3-17-2008

*gasp* a rendering glitch when you're loading literally thousands of images... google NEVER has those *rolls eyes*

yabun said 12:53PM on 3-17-2008

I'm very surprised there are so many pro-Live.com comments here. So surprised one might call "FUD by paid Evangelists". I personally don't know any regular civilian that uses Live.com and nobody recommends it.

I do remember when MS had a big marketing surge for their latest Google killing search site a while back. It was some sloppy overly ajaxy site which caused unpredictable behavior from the forward/backward buttons on the browser and felt about as natural as throwing a ball with your opposite hand. What a POS. I didn't revisit Live.com again for months.

You may say people use Google out of habit. I can't speak for everyone but I've given Live.com plenty of chances and Google always gives good accurate results period.

I did the exact same search just now on Google-Maps and Live-Maps consisting of my dentist's name and my city/state. Live found nada and Google had a nice single push-pin right on his office with his address and phone number. I wanted to find the site for Handbrake (software). Google had the main homepage as result #1. Live had it 5th or 6th -- I had to scroll to see it. I tried to find a Thai restaurant in town last week and did the same search in both. Live found nothing (I had mispelled Thai "Thia"). Google said, did you mean "Thai" and gave me results on that assumption. Can't beat a sweet-ass time saver like that!!

It's not that people use Google out of habit, it's that Google has a habit of returning pertinent results really freakin' fast. It's easier/faster to find information at Microsoft.com using Google than Live. I don't know why MS wants to kill Google. Without Google, most people wouldn't be able to figure out how to fix all the issues with MS software.

michael said 2:12PM on 3-17-2008

What a hater.

Many of the commenters aren't saying the use Live full-time. They're saying that Live does some things a bit better than Google and that's about it. They still probably use another search engine (or Google) by force of habit.

I looked at handbrake search, and the first few results were pretty consistent to leading you to the download. The official site is 4th. For the most part, Live has grown to be more accurate. At least better than Y!

I also did some map searching. I looked for three things : some small restaurant from a strip mall, my dental office and my elementary school when I was younger.

1. It took some while, but as I zoomed in, the results refreshed to align with my vicinity that I was zooming into. I found it, though the pointer was off center. I didn't enter the full name, but Live found it.

2. I typed in my dental office and it was like the first results. I zoomed into the area where I thought it was around, and it found it.

3. It also found my old elementary school that fast also.

Search isn't perfect for any company, but it's constantly worked on. There are times when both Live and Google don't return the right results. That's expected. As more people use a service, the better the results get adjusted.

What's more amazing about Live Search is the technology behind it.

Live Image has a nice clean thumbnail view, and you just simply hover over to find the info. Instead of cramming it down all over the page. And there infinite scroll so you don't have to refresh the entire page to just see more photos.

Video Search is also ingenious. Hover over a thumbnail and get to see some parts of the video play instantly on the spot. NO having to press the link, wait for the video to load up, and figure out you got the wrong one.

Academic Search is another one. They also take cursor hovering into this. Scroll down an infinite list of results without refreshing the page, and as your cursor hovers over a link, the info pops on the right pane. It's also easy to get citations and the abstract info. directly from this.

Maybe Google does do better at getting the 'right' results. But Live has improved and will keep on improving search results. But right now, Live wins in the the technological use and it won't be longer till we see better results. For the most part, Live is accurate.

tanka said 9:01AM on 4-26-2008

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