![](\"http:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/images\/live_search_fail.gif\")
<\/p>\nI\u2019ve complained before about the quality of Microsoft\u2019s Live Search vs Google; but today\u2019s example seemed too good an illustration not to mention.<\/p>\n
I needed to update Windows XP to SP3. In particular, I wanted what Microsoft calls the \u201cnetwork\u201d download; that is, the entire service pack, not the launcher app that initiates a piecemeal download tailored to the specific machine.<\/p>\n
I pulled up Live Search and entered \u201cwindows xp sp3 download\u201d.<\/p>\n
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To my surprise, Live Search offered me only third party<\/strong> download sites in its first page of results. Actually, that\u2019s not strictly true. At number 8 is the download for \u201cWindows XP SP3 RC2 Refresh\u201d (obsolete); and at number 10 the general home page for XP downloads: <\/p>\n Find popular Windows XP downloads, including PowerToys, trial software, tools and utilities<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I tried Google. Same search. The official network download is in first place. The official piecemeal download is second.<\/p>\n I know: you can argue that this is just an isolated search, and that some other search might show Google in an equally bad light. However, I find this constantly: Google gets me much better results. Further, this case is particularly telling, since a third-party download site is not<\/strong> what you want when patching Windows. Quite likely those other sites do point you to the correct official download eventually; but getting Microsoft downloads from Microsoft\u2019s site is safer.<\/p>\n I am not surprised Microsoft has a tiny share of the search market; and I don\u2019t believe this is simply because of Google\u2019s clever marketing.<\/p>\n Update PS<\/strong>: The above screen grab still matches what I get today. However, users in different countries may get different results; from the comments below I suspect that US users get better results in this instance. Maybe Live Search is worse in the UK than in the US; I\u2019d be interested to know.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve complained before about the quality of Microsoft\u2019s Live Search vs Google; but today\u2019s example seemed too good an illustration not to mention. I needed to update Windows XP to SP3. In particular, I wanted what Microsoft calls the \u201cnetwork\u201d download; that is, the entire service pack, not the launcher app that initiates a piecemeal … Continue reading Why I can\u2019t use Microsoft Live Search for real work<\/span> \n
Technorati tags: search<\/a>, google<\/a>, microsoft<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"