Microsoft aims for search on its own terms

TalkBack 4 of 39:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

It is the future, but how soon

Mr Fredrickson, as long time Mac user, I too am very
skeptical about about the validity of any Microsoft
"research."

The difference between Microsoft and Apple or Google is
that Apple or Google just come out one day and say, "Here
is our new product, a result of our hard work and research."
While Microsoft says, "Hey, we're going to do some hard
work and research and maybe in 3 or 4 years we'll have
something cool, maybe (meanwhile don't buy or invest in
anyone else)."

Didn't all this search stuff used to be called Cairo? Bill Gate's
holy grail. I wonder why they dangle all these earth shaking
research ideas here and now if not to stunt other research
in these areas. Perhaps its actually a challenge for other
smart folks to step in and beat them to the goal. Show them
how to actually do it--again.

But to hear it described: "Dumais began to type an e-mail
asking a colleague about a set of slides for an upcoming
conference. Before the message was complete, the
program--which appears in a window on the side of the
screen-- pulled up e-mails, slide decks and Word
documents containing the name of the conference and the
future recipient. Each hit came with a brief summary of the
internal content, date, the type of software the file was
written in, and its potential relevance, among other
information."

Wow. That actually sounds useful. Didn't Tesla envision
such a machine in the early 1900's. Or was it Vannevar Bush
in the 40's. More likely Gene Roddenbury in the
60's--"Computer, how far are we from Earth?"

But it is indeed a holy grail because I believe we are talking
about something beyond meticulously typing in lots of meta
data. I believe Microsoft is saying they will have a true
example of artificial intelligence in Longhorn. That meta
data will be generated intelligently by the computer.
Longhorn will (almost) be like having a personal assistant.

I will truly be impressed if they can actually do it, even if it
runs like a slug on the fastest machines.

Buy hey, this is Microsoft we're talking about. I won't hold
my breath.

Posted by: Len Rooney   Posted on: 11/25/03 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• The True Costs of Virtual Server Solutions VMware In an economic environment that is repeatedly heralding the message "do ... Download Now
• Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Iinfrastructure VMware VMware virtualization software has been adopted by over 120,000 enterprise ... Download Now
• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now