Windows Live Search set to be unchained

Windows Live Search is expected to go live shortly after less than a year in beta mode.

Microsoft said its new online search portal will feature an improved user interface that fetches more accurate web search results.

In addition, Live Search will now power MSN Search. Live.com will also be released from beta, as will Live Local Search, but only in the UK and the US. They are all part of Microsoft's new set of internet services and software.

Though the search engine was in beta mode for a relatively short time, the company felt enough progress had been made to release it globally after examining user feedback, meeting with consumers and studying search behaviour, said Derrick Connell, search business general manager. Connell called the release "a watershed moment" for Microsoft.

Live Search lets users hunt for news, images, video, blogs and RSS feeds through one search portal. The new features are intended to help simplify internet searches, like the scoping bar on the top of the page that keeps the information from a previous search so the next search is done in the context of the first.

Microsoft said its new web search will return with more precise results faster. Prior to the latest version of Live Search, the average search from query to final results took 11 minutes, Connell said. And half the time, those searches ended fruitlessly. That happened when users clicked on a link, refined the query, and not finding what they needed, gave up, he said - adding: "For a large population of searchers, they want to run a query and get the answer they need [right away]."

The new "related searches" feature on the right side of the screen uses an algorithm that utilises the previous queries and results of others who performed the same search. Another web results improvement runs a search on the contents of the destination site, eliminating the need to use the site's own search function, which is almost never as powerful as a major search engine.

Microsoft also improved the image search process. Connell said the company's research showed more than half of users would click "next" when perusing search results, meaning the image they were looking for did not appear in the first batch of results. He says they've solved that problem by putting all image query results on a single page with a slider bar that controls the size of thumbnails.

Local searches account for 15 per cent to 20 per cent of online queries, said Connell. Using the Virtual Earth platform, the new local search function lets users see cities from a 45-degree "bird's-eye view" of a particular place on a map. Instead of an overhead view you get with an aerial map, it gives an angled perspective on locations such as downtown Seattle or the Statue of Liberty in New York. The mapping feature currently covers 30 per cent of the US and 100 cities worldwide.

Erica Ogg writes for CNET News.com