Are you into the Holiday/Christmas spirit already? If so why not check out this Windows Live.com Happy Holidays Christmas Template, all you have to do to add it as your Live.com Template is click here.
The Windows Live Expo team just rolled out an update earlier today. Here are the details, via the Team Blog:
- Public availability in the UK and China! Welcome to social classifieds, guys!
- Upgrades to the "Communities" feature (formerly known as Email groups)
- Streamlined account sign-up
- Upgrade to the newest Virtual Earth map viewer - check out the new 3D maps feature by clicking on the "View map" button!
- Image enhanced preview, so you can start scoping people's profile photos
- Sharing on Facebook, so you can share your listings with your Facebook buddies
- A much needed refresh of the homepage including the slick 'Vapor' theme
- Tonnes of bugfixes and backend improvements
As some of you may remember, I complained about the lack of Flair/Vapor on the Expo site in my interview with Kurt Weber from the Expo Team. Thanks for rolling that out guys. It really makes the service fit in even more with the Windows Live suite. This is definitely a feature packed release and at least Chris will be happy about the UK release.
More:
MSTechToday
New Release of Expo! (Team Expo Blog)
Windows Live Expo
Straight from the Google blog is the new that Google Answers is closing down, with the acceptance of new questions stop later this week. The surprising admission that they only had about 800 users replying to questions in 4 years of operation does not make this any less of a blow to the company, who downplay Answers to being just a "great experiment". In comparison, competitor services such as Yahoo Answers and Windows Live QnA seem to be flourishing.
Yahoo Answers has recently undergone a large advertising campaign in the UK, and has heavily promoted celebrity questions both here and in the USA. Currently they have Oprah asking the question "If you were given $1,000 to change the life of a perfect stranger, what would you do?" with the number of answers standing at over 33,000 at the time of posting.
QnA is less established, but one that seems to be building a solid community. Unlike Google Answers, which was not promoted on Google.com, QnA is linked on the Windows Live Search homepage, driving users to the service. The QnA modules that can be added to Windows Live Spaces have also helped with its growth, but a lack of rewards for top users may become an issue as the service develops.
Of course this doesn't have much effect on the current search rankings, (Live Search share drops) but it has reinforced the idea that social search is perhaps Google's biggest weakness.
Update: Minor correction made clarifying what the figure of "more than 800" refers to.
An interesting discussion is shaping up across a number of blogs, all relating to Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch posting a number of graphs showing MSN (Live) Search to be losing market share to Google. Sullivan posts this graph showing the drop in market share over the last year:
A number of bloggers chimed in with their takes, including Greg Linden of Findory and Nathan Weinberg of Inside Microsoft (who can't resist Office 2007izing the chart):
Weinberg goes on to offer his thoughts on why Live Search is losing share:
Theories:
- Change is bad: Users don’t like two redesigns in two years, and the unfamiliarity is sending them away.
- Windows Live Search looks cheap: The old MSN search looked cheap. It was too white, too sparse. The layout and colors didn’t have the right “feel”, seeming like a low rent search engine, rather than a serious competitor to Google. While Google shares many of the same properties, users know it is the search leader, and are willing to overlook its design. MSN doesn’t get the same pass. While the newer MSN Search and now Live.com improved the look and feel, they retain some sort of cheapness. Personally, I think its the white and blue. Something dramatic and dynamic to make the page more exciting. Ask.com has it (the red bar) Yahoo has some of it (the red Yahoo logo, plus they rip off Google well). Perhaps Widncows Live needs a new color on the page, or an animated element. Anything to break it up. A suggestion: Animate the flair on page load.
- Lack of marketing: Most people don’t know Windows Live Search exists. Microsoft is counting on (a) community evangelism (and besides myself and some other bloggers, I’m not sure there is much of that), as well as (b) MSN and Internet Explorer users discovering the search engine in random use. For god sakes, buy some good commercials, ones people can’t ignore, something undeniably cool and memorable. Also: Say Live.com in your ads, leave out Microsoft, and I guarantee they become more effective.
- Beta feel: Regardless of how popular Gmail invites used to be, the average user hates betas, and will not use products that appear under construction. Windows Live has so many products that don’t work, don’t work all the time, are behind invite-only walls, or have a beta tag, that users instinctively say “I’ll wait for when its done”. Focus on core products (Live.com, search, image search, news search, Live Mail) and demand a full release by the day Windows Vista hits retail. If you have to, stop designing new features and stabilize the damn code. I don’t care how good the product will be, because your users are leaving now.
..and goes on to say that he has a "geek crush" on Windows Live and wants them to win.
Then Eric Selberg of Microsoft and Live Search chimed in with two posts, where he comments: "Well, what did anyone really expect?" and continues on to provide a very realistic summary of what Microsoft is in for to try and compete in Search. In a comment on Linden's post, Selberg goes into more detail about the complexity of competing in Search:
"Now... to be fair and critical... let's say Microsoft did invest a few more billion into search. It's not clear hiring could have happened much faster, nor would we have wanted it as bringing on that many new people is a recipe for disaster. But certainly, the hardware infrastructure could have been built out such that it'd be much closer now (you'll notice we've been rather quiet about the size of the index since the Google / Yahoo 20 billion index scuffle a year and a half ago). That's happening, and I suspect in a year or two the size of one's data centers won't be as big a competitive advantage as it is now. But it's a fair point.
I think the real question is whether we're talking about a matter of 1-2 years vs 4-5 years. If we're arguing about 1-2 years, well, OK, fine, you win. We could have done a bit better. But as I told Steve Hanks the other week, if I knew everything I knew at the end of my PhD as I did when I started, it would have taken me a lot less than the 6 years it did. But of course, that's the point of it all!"
Very interesting to have Selberg chime in on the discussion - this is the kind of blogging we have been missing - maybe it's not dead after all!
As promised, Office Live is beginning to move into markets other than the US, with betas in France, Japan, Germany, and the UK. In the UK, the first 10,000 beta testers to sign up will get a free co.uk domain name.
To learn more about Office Live, check out the Office Live Community at boards.live.com, and learn more about the developer story with the new developer guide and more at the Office Live blog
Virtual Earth? Local.live.com? Maps.live.com? It's all so confusing. We've suggested just changing the name to Maps and be done with it, and recently there have been signs that the change has occured.
First, http://maps.live.com works, and doesn't resolve to http://local.live.com as it used to.
Then on the Live Search menu, Local has been replaced by Maps:
and in recent posts by Soma Somasegar, MSN Search's blog, and others, they're using the maps.live.com address.
Finally, in a post the night before Virtual Earth 3d went live, CIO India reported that the change had been made:
"Microsoft plans to announce the new feature, called Virtual Earth 3D, on Monday afternoon at a press conference in San Francisco, where the company will also change the service's name from Live Local to Live Search Maps, as well as the Web address..."
There's been no official word that we can find on the change, but it seems to be a done deal.
Today saw the first major Windows Live advertising here in the UK, with a 4 page front-cover for the "Metro", a free London paper aimed at commuters. Much like the previous ads in American newspapers, they focused on Windows Live Search, including both Image Search and VirtualEarth.
Pictures (Click to enlarge)
Ironically this comes a day after the latest report showing a decline in MSN/Windows Live's share of the US search market. Brandon LeBlanc had a few choice words to say about the stats:
"It seems like the marketing folks under Windows Live have relied on community members to explain Windows Live for them. Well, I think its time for them to step up. No more of this “waiting for more services to leave beta” bullsh*t. You’ve got plenty of services out of beta - its time to explain Windows Live now if you don’t want to see any more percentage drops in your services."
Unsurprisingly, nobody from Windows Live marketing has commented on Brandon's thoughts or our original post. If anybody wants to start the ball rolling I'm sure you'll find more than a few people willing to engage with.
Thanks to Mike P and BV2312 for the pictures, and to all our users who sent us this tip (tips@liveside.net).
Today sees the publication of a new Nielson NetRatings report (PDF) on the US search share rankings. There are few surprises concerning when it comes to the top 2 performers - Google 49.6%, 23% growth and Yahoo 23.9%, 30% growth. What is surprising is the bad performance of MSN/Windows Live Search, dropping 8% in the year, giving a total share of 8.8% of US searches.
While it could be argued that the advances Windows Live Search has made will have only been noticed by users in the last few months, it shows how difficult the fight for search share has now become for Microsoft. Out of the top 10 search providers in the US, MSN/Windows Live Search was the only one to suffer a decline in share, a statistic that tells its own story.
I'd like to think this is the beginning of a comeback however there is still not enough incentive for users to switch from their established search engine to Windows Live Search. Perhaps the integration in IE7 will help somewhat, but as the first-run experience allows users to choose what search engine they use, this is unlikely to be the magic bullet that is needed.
In an email sent out earlier this week, MSN Money users learnt they will now have two financial information sites to choose from. The first, MSN Money, underwent an update earlier this week, providing new features that include:
- Improved stockcharts
- New quote pages
- Quote watchlist
- My News - a personalised news page based on stocks you are interested in
The second site, CNBC.com will be launching on December 4th, and will feature "alerts, market dispatches and stock picks from the investing experts on CNBC." With the CNBC homepage promising "live events and video on demand" that will also be available through MSN Video, this split gets even more confusing.
So will users stick with MSN Money, CNBC, use both, or instead give up and switch to Google Finance? If you use MSN Money now let us know what you think of the change.
Just a few days after announcing a major partnership between Windows Live Mobile and Sprint, the Windows Live Mobile team have launched a new SMS search service that provides Cingular, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and Alltel subscribers SMS access to Windows Live Search results. (US only curently)
- Send a SMS to 95483 (WLIVE) on your phone
- To find a local business - Type in "salon rae seattle wa"
- For Instant Answers - Start all your queries with a ? question mark - eg "? mothers day"
- Word Definitions – use ‘D’ instead of ‘?’ " - eg D transverse"
Other search functions include reverse phone number lookup, stock quotes, area and country telephone codes, holiday dates, and solutions to maths calculations. Full instructions on how to use this service are available on the team blog or you can visit the new Mobile Search homepage for full details of all the services available.
The mobile team is doing some great stuff, so hopefully this goes international soon. No more having to remember the details of local search results, plus you can forward them on if meeting up with others. No excuses for being late now!
Much to our surprise, MSN released version 9.5 of MSN Explorer/MSN Internet Access to subscribers as an update on Friday. The release appears to fix a number of issues surrounding upgrades to Windows Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Live Messenger.
Another MSN service becomes content with the closure of MSN Music. With Microsoft launching Zune Tuesday, MSN Music will not become Windows Live Music, but become a delivery method of content. MSN Music will no longer be selling music, but point customers to Zune, Real Rhapsody, or other music services through Plays For Sure [i.e. URGE]. Any music already purchased will still be available under the same content usage rules.
MSN Entertainment is also introducing a new radio service through Pandora, and will also make their existing MSN Radio Plus service free in February. Refunds will be issued to anyone who still has unused song credits or an MSN Radio Plus subscription. Also, MSN Video is being expanded to feature more content from NBC Universal. Read more about the changes in an e-mail from Rob Bennett: General Manager, MSN Entertainment & Video Services.
MSN used to be focused on delivering à la carte items like MSN Plus, MSN Premium, MSN Personal Address, Microsoft Office Outlook Live, MSN Video Downloads, MSN Hotmail Plus, and the now closed MSN Chat as a premium option. Of course all but MSN Premium, MSN Video Downloads, and Hotmail Plus still exist today, and those services are under threat of being discontinued or transitioned to Windows Live as MSN becomes content only, and Windows Live takes all of the services. It's clear that Microsoft is set on differentiating MSN and Windows Live.
That said, MSN is still going to continue developing content, as seen with Soapbox and MSN Originals. MSN may be changing, but it's still going to be focused on delivering a great Internet experience through content.
@Matthew
PS--On a side note, did anyone see the Zune install error screen? Hmm...
Build 1172 of Windows Live Mail desktop just went live on Ideas.Live.com. This is the first publically available update for WLMd in about a month and a half, so needless to say there have been a lot of improvements since the last build. Alright, let's just jump right into it.
New in this build
- Migration from Windows Mail in Vista (Bug fixes and more support.)
- Minimize to the System Tray (Apparently they have made some sort of update to this based on user feedback. Still not sure what was changed.)
- Windows Desktop Search 3.0 Integration (Pretty much self explanatory.)
- Improved Sorting
- Synchronization Improvements (Thank you!)
- Performance Updates (Obviously crucial to WLMd's success, although the last build was pretty tight as far as performance goes)
- Hundreds of bug fixes since the last build.
Go and grab the new build here.
Also:
Windows Live Mail desktop Team Blog post
The word is that the Windows Live "desktop search" project has been shelved, as a result of the recent reorg. In Sinofsky's vision of "Live 2.0" (did I just say that?), the 6 groups rule all, giving consolidation into a Windows Live suite. The screenshot below is about as much as we will be seeing anytime soon of the ill-fated "Casino".
Live Drive is still yet to be seen, Nemo the Media Center add-on is on hold. While thankfully someone has seen sense to stop churning out Live-branded products everywhere we look, these non-core products are the ones that can differentiate Windows Live from Google and Yahoo. Hopefully we'll see them or their technology in other products in the near future.
Windows Search Preview homepage
Ken Moss, General Manager of Live Search, announced today that Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo! will all support the SiteMaps protocol, a simple, xml based way for web site owners to share information with search engines without having to rely on crawl algorithms. Ken describes the work Microsoft is doing:
We are 100% behind this protocol - this kind of collaboration will help improve the search experience for all of our customers, and we are working hard to release full support in 2007.
Ken points to SiteMaps.org, which has some details on the protocol:
Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.
Web crawlers usually discover pages from links within the site and from other sites. Sitemaps supplement this data to allow crawlers that support Sitemaps to pick up all URLs in the Sitemap and learn about those URLs using the associated metadata. Using the Sitemap protocol does not guarantee that web pages are included in search engines, but provides hints for web crawlers to do a better job of crawling your site.
And Google provides quite a bit of information in Webmaster Tools, including a sample of the xml:
With relevance in Search getting to be more and more of a commodity, this move to work on standards for search can only be seen as a good thing.