News

Microsoft Ships Search Tool for Enterprise Users

• By Stuart J. Johnston
• November 16, 2005

Microsoft this week released its Windows Desktop Search tool for enterprise users at its annual IT Forum event in Barcelona, Spain. Not surprisingly, in the face of competition for the search space with Google, it’s a free download.

The tool allows users to search their PCs, e-mail and network file shares from their desktops. It also works with Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and MSN Search, thus extending search capabilities into both the enterprise and onto the Web, Microsoft officials said.

In the future, the company intends to augment Windows Desktop Search’s capabilities by integrating them with Windows Live services, according to a company statement. Microsoft announced its Windows Live and Office Live services initiatives earlier this month.

Among the services that Microsoft announced for Windows are Live.com, a personalized home page, Windows Live Mail, a replacement for MSN Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. The company delivered a version of the search tool for consumer use, named MSN Search, in February.

Windows Desktop Search is designed to be “easy for IT managers to deploy, customize and manage across all Microsoft Windows XP-based or Windows 2000-based PCs in a corporate environment,” the company statement said.