Vice president of MSN Search, Christopher Payne, told the attendees at the Search Engine Strategies conference, held on 4 August in San Jose, California, that desktop search is one of Microsoft's top priorities as its MSN division moves forward with plans to launch its own algorithmic search engine technology. Payne also said that technology from Microsoft's acquisition last month of desktop-search startup Lookout Software LLC will be integrated into the new offering.
In an interview following the session, MSN Product Manager Justin Osmer said that MSN plans to combine desktop search of e-mail messages and files with its own Web search once both technologies are available. Last week, MSN Corporate Vice President Yusuf Mehdi demonstrated a prototype of integrated search across Web results and users' e-mails and files. Osmer said that the interface previewed in that demo will serve as a basis for the MSN desktop search product.
