Microsoft Search News Out of IE 8 and MIX09
Microsoft has had a couple major events this week and both have implications for search. First up, they release the next version of their web browser, Internet Explorer 8. It was announced at MIX09, which had additional search news covered at the end of this post.
With the release of IE8 comes the Live Search accelerators.
Once you’ve installed IE 8 and the accelerator, all you have to do is highlight a word on a page you’re viewing, click on the arrow that appears and click on the option you want. If you’re shopping and highlight a product, you can click the “Shop and Save” option. If you highlight an address, you can click on the “Map with Live Search” option. A translation accelerator is another option if you’re viewing a page in a foreign language.
There were three other search news announcements that came out of MIX09.
- Virtual Earth Silverlight Control – Made available to developers today, Silverlight is now letting Virtual Earth developers have access to new features like “deep zoom” navigation, which improves the mapping experience.
- Project Silk Road – This project has been a great success. Announced at PubCon last November, the API is already serving 3 billion requests per month. Over 5,000 applications for the broad beta have been received.
- Microsoft’s work with job search site CareerBuilder.com – The largest job search site in the United States is now using the Live Search API and Silverlight, allowing employers to search candidate backgrounds from places like Facebook, blogs, online articles, etc., all in one place.
Related Reading:
In Search Race, Ballmer Seeks More Eyeballs
Well, raise my rent. Microsoft is the good guy!