Late yesterday, Yahoo announced the launch of their desktop search application
that will compete directly with offerings from Google and MSN. At first glance,
YDS appears superior in features and performance to Google and MSN desktop
search apps.
Yahoo has introduced their desktop search utility. Which one do you prefer
using? Or do you use desktop search at all? Discuss at
WebProWorld.
There is no cost or obligation to
download
and use the software. However, once installed you see a
direct link to an enterprise targeted product called
X1 Desktop Search.
X1 is the brainchild of entrepreneur Bill Gross, who
conceived and developed a similar product, called Lotus Magellan in 1989. Bill
Gross is the founder of Idealab
a company that
incubates Internet startups such
as X1. Idealab founded
Overture
which of course was
acquired
by Yahoo in 2003.
Yahoo is now a "strategic
partner" with X1. I think we can safely assume that Yahoo is using X1
technology as the basis for its free desktop search application. This is
different than
Google and
MSN which primarily used technology
developed by their in-house programmers.
This explains why Yahoo's Desktop Search seems to be
much further advanced than Google and MSN's desktop search.
One cool feature you notice right after install is the
preview window built into the YDS software. This is especially useful for
searching and perusing email and other written documents.
Yahoo believes that they "are going beyond the desktop"
with this product. Yahoo's Bradley Horowitz and
Jeremy Zawodny
announced the YDS
beta in their blog and stated:
"The notion of a "desktop" is changing. Most products are built with the
premise that your desktop is just a way of seeing what's on your computer's hard
disk. But in today's world, many of us create, find, use, and share information
that lives in many places. Some of it lives on your computer, some lives on
Yahoo! and other on-line services, some may live on other computers or devices
on your home network.
We don't think you should have to think about where your
stuff is stored in order to find it. That's where this is all headed. And
as YDS evolves, you'll see that becoming more and more clear."
Here are a few of the features as mentioned in the blog:
1. Speed. YDS is really fast.
2. Instant Feedback. YDS provides incremental search, much like you find
in Firefox. As you type each character of your search, the results are updated
instantly. Not only does this mean less typing, but you'll catch spelling
mistakes a lot faster too.
3. Comprehensiveness. YDS indexes a lot of file types. Over 200.
4. Built in Preview: YDS renders a preview view for most of the 200+ file
types and enables you to page through the preview, so you don't need to launch
the full-blown application just to see if you've found the right document. You
can page through a PowerPoint, Word or PDF doc, examine individual cells in
Excel, or even play an mp3 file - right there in YDS.
5. Actions. If you right click on a result, YDS provides a
context-specific menu that allows you to do things with the email or document:
reply, forward, print, open, etc.
6. Cost. YDS is free.
You can
download Yahoo Desktop Search here...