Google and Microsoft Go Head to Head on Books
December 7th, 2006 by pamela
Microsoft seems to be taking another step in the ‘keep up with Google’ game and have launched a beta version of Live Search Books, a direct competitor to Google Book Search and yet another example of how Microsoft is trying to keep up with the neighbours.
Providing content from out of copyright texts only, Live Search Books is, according to the team behind it, “working hard to offer the most relevant Search service to you, our customers. There is a lot of trusted and authoritative content that can only be found in books today. With this beta launch we’ve taken our first steps toward making that content discoverable and easy to read.”
As Google makes moves to organise the world’s information, it was only matter of time before Microsoft made similar moves, but given the head start Google has had on them, it may seem to be a move designed to keep them in line with their competitor, if nothing else.
Live Search Books looks good and provides some really interesting results – but so does Google Book Search. But only time will tell and as Google steams ahead in its bid to catalogue every piece of information available on well, everything, it might be difficult for Microsoft to distinguish their service enough.
