KUMO (BING), Can it take on Google?

the latest,

Microsoft is expected to show the first preview of its new search engine BING code named Kumo next week.

From very brief details available online it looks that it is going to fix a basic shortcoming (when compared with google) i.e. search results categorization. Also at the moment google shows up the results with images and videos for your search while Live Search doesn't .


Following is a brief summary from eweek.com Microsoft to Unveil Kumo, a New Search Engine

"Kumo will organize search results in an efficient way, grouping them into sub-categories, and represents an upgrade from Microsoft’s Live Search. For example, if you do a search of "Audi S8," it will feed back results categorized under "Audi S8 Parts," "Used Audi S8," "Top images for Audi S8," and "Top video for Audi S8." In theory, this will result in faster searches, sparing the community from having to sort on their own through pages of ungrouped hyperlinks. Microsoft has been testing the search engine internally for months, according to several different published reports. "


After reading the news I asked myself 'Why do I like Google?' The first immediate answer was its interface was so simple and came out with that simplicity when the other search engines home pages were loaded with tons of crap (news, weather, sports, entertainment etc).

how google search differs from live search?

I spotted few differences when I ran a search for 'asp.net mvc'. There is one serious issue with live search that could be spotted very quickly. Both Google and Live search came with similar results but the description of the search results were totally different. Where google was showing the text that was related to the search context, Live search was showing the site description instead. Of course I do not need to see the description of the site as whole, I am more interested to see if there is something promising enough for me in the site making me click and open the web page. This alone is enough for me in preferring google over Microsoft Live search, lets wait and see if they have fixed this in KUMO or not.

see yourself,








Further more, from aesthetic point of view, leaving space on left side as blank in Live search results page doesn't look good to eyes.

Software development - A to Z

A picture is worth a thousand words

MIX09 - Its all about Silverlight

MIX09 - Keynote,

I recently watched Scott Gu's keynote speach at MIX09 conference (called MIX because its audience are a mix of designers and developers). I found it informative and interesting. Here you can watch it MIX09 Keynote, or click here for a quick roundup

what is all about?

Intros and demos, mostly around Silverlight and related technologies

brief list of topcs:

1. Advancing User Experiences ASP.Net MVC 1.0


2. ASP.Net 2.0 & VS 2010


3. Expression Web 3 (with Superpreview demo and it was really superb)


4. Microsoft Web Platform Installer (nice handy tool to get downloads from Web application gallery from a single window)


5. Silverlight 3
   

• Netflix demo
  
• Smooth video streaming, bitrate throttling
  
• Beijing 2008 Olympics and Silverlight
  
• WorldWide telescope (just got mentioned but I love it ttp://www.worldwidetelescope.org)
  
• 40k smaller than silverlight 2
  
• StackOverflow website (not that impressed though)
  
• Sketchflow : Expression Blend 3 (Impressive for creating quick demo for analysis and design purposes, love it), export sketches to word document !!, integration with Adobe tools, Advanced graphics and lot more

MIX09 Videos,
Complete list of MIX09 sessions and videos


a tip,
If you are installing Silverlight 3 then better removew all previous versions of Silverlight and first install VS2008 SP1 otherwise you may have a lot of trouble in installing Silverlight 3.