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Painful MS(D)N Search Vs. Elegant Google Search

There are some things Google Search engine does a lot better than all other search engines. The most important one is the relevance of search results to the query. Used google for some time, and I kinda fell in love with it. When MSN search is out, I tried it to see if it is better. I was very disappointed then, and the same to date.

Here is a latest example. I was trying to locate any web casts on webservices recently. I opened specifically the on-demand webcasts page, http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/ondemand.mspx and gave a query in the search box “Web Service, webcast”. There are 10 results on the first page with 3 results belong to 2005 and the rest to 2004. And nothing leads to a specific page with latest webcast on web services.

Here are the top 3 results. Month of August did not appear in the first page at all:
Webcast Archive: July 2005Search Microsoft.com for: Go Browse by Type Information For Resources Product Families Events Worldwide Webcast Archive: July 2005Published: August 5, 2005 The following webcasts from July 2005 are available for viewing anytime. This list automatically sorts webcasts in reverse chronological http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/library/200507.mspx
Webcast Archive: May 2005 Search Microsoft.com for: Go Browse by Type Information For Resources Product Families Events Worldwide Webcast Archive: May 2005Published: May 31, 2005 The following webcasts from May 2005 are available for viewing anytime. This list automatically sorts webcasts in reverse chronological order http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/library/200505.mspx
Webcast Archive: February 2005Search Microsoft.com for: Go Browse by Type Information For Resources Product Families Events Worldwide Webcast Archive: February 2005Published: February 28, 2005 The following webcasts from February 2005 are available for viewing anytime. This list automatically sorts webcasts in reverse http://www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/library/200502.mspx

I tried the same on Google. Query=Web Service, webcast site:www.microsoft.com. And here is the first result:
Events and Webcasts: On-Demand Webcasts
Fri, 26 Aug 2005, MSDN Webcast: BizTalk Web Services and WSE (Level 200), On-Demand Webcast Customer Rating: *. Thu, 25 Aug 2005, MSDN Webcast: Essential …www.microsoft.com/events/webcasts/ondemand.mspx – 69k – Aug 28, 2005 -

I went to the on-demand web casts website to verify whether this page has the latest web services webcast or link. And I found that link to be absolutely true. Now this is what I call, relevance to the context. Google is far better than MSN search when it comes to searchin the web, even on the microsoft web site.
When it comes to searching MSDN content, I do not know much about MSDN search. But here is an expression of pain from a microsoft blogger. It looks, Andy do not use Visual Studio online help system. Do not use MSDN search on the web either. He uses google to search MSDN content. Does it tell some thing?
Andy Pennell’s Blog : Why is MSDN Search so painful?

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August 29th, 2005 at 5:22 pm

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