microsoft encarta encyclopedia deluxe 2004

Another route Microsoft is likely to take as it continues to enhance MSN Search is to build links with its desktop products, so that search information and features can be placed in, for example, Outlook e-mail messages, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets, he said.Īs part of the MSN Search revamping, Microsoft has also decided to put on hold, pending further evaluation, its paid inclusion program, in which Web site owners pay to have Microsoft include their sites in the MSN Search index. Microsoft is likely to follow up this set of enhancements by beefing up MSN Search with strong proprietary content, such as music files and street atlases, of which a first step is the tying of the Encarta content with MSN Search, Weiner said. Creating a friendlier user experience is a great first step.' 'You have to look at this as a multi-step process they'll go through in terms of what their plans for search.

'I think the primary enhancement you'll find is in its interface, in the look and feel: a cleaner site that allows for a friendlier user experience,' said Allen Weiner, a Gartner analyst. The stock quotes, for example, will come from MSN Money, while the Encarta content will come from a selection of the Encarta Reference Library 2004, which includes the Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004 and the Encarta World English Dictionary, Microsoft said. MSN Search's performance has also been improved, as has the relevance of its query results.

Moreover, the search box in the home page will feature a pull-down menu to let users choose whether they want to query MSN Search's Web index, its news sources collection, a selection of the Encarta encyclopedia contents or stock quotes, among other options. In beta tests, this new design increased significantly the amount of time users spent at MSN Search and the number of queries they ran, compared with the old design, Microsoft said. Specifically, Microsoft has decided to reduce the number of sponsored results it serves up, and to display them in shaded boxes with a clear label that differentiates them from the search engine's results, which in turn will be more prominently displayed now on the search results page.

Microsoft encarta encyclopedia deluxe 2004