Google -- 21st Century Dewey Decimal System

Librarians, it turns out, might not be all that excited about Google's foray into academia. Philadelphia University library chief Steven J. Bell told the Chronicle of Higher Education that "he worries about what effect Google Print will have on library patrons' perceptions of electronic searching. Most library databases allow users to make more refined searches than they can using Google's search engine, he said. 'This will add pressure to make things more like Google, and it will only serve to weaken the ability to get good information,' he said. 'It's going to be that much harder to convince people to use a more complex search tool.'" Bell "added that librarians and others should have a dose of 'healthy skepticism' about the project. 'Google is probably not going to do anything that doesn't have a profit return on it,' he said. 'What does that mean? Are people going to be getting a book out of Stanford's collection, and will they be prompted to buy something?'" (Same link as above.)

The Wall Street Journal's article would seem to downplay such concerns: "While people now will be able to do research using library books without going to the library, many librarians predict it will only stimulate interest in books and library usage itself. ... The universities say they won't receive any money from Google for participating in the program, but Google will give them the scanned versions of the books."

The Boston Globe quotes Sidney Verba, director of the Harvard University library, who said he "doesn't mind if Google profits from the project. After all, Google will pick up the tab for digitizing the school's entire book collection. 'It's large amounts of money,' said Verba. 'We could not afford it.'" Verba "said Google officials first proposed the idea two years ago. 'My reaction, to say the least, was skeptical,' he said. But Google came back a year later with a detailed plan that impressed Verba. The company wrote custom software for the job, and built its own scanning machinery, to handle delicate books without damaging them."
• The Boston Globe: Google to Index Works at Harvard, Other Major Libraries

MSN's Search Envy

Microsoft frequently gets beat when it comes to rushing innovative products to market, but sooner or later the mighty software firm manages to roll out its own version, instantly becoming a major player. Such is the case with desktop search. Google may have been first, but Microsoft released the beta version of its desktop search tool yesterday.

"The toolbar is both a defensive move by Microsoft to keep Google from encroaching onto its core business of PC software and part of a broader offense by Microsoft to expand into the search business," The Wall Street Journal said. Reuters has more details: "Microsoft is deploying its new desktop search tool through a set of different toolbars that can be installed on the Windows desktop, the Internet Explorer browser and within Office Outlook, the e-mail, contacts and scheduling program. The toolbar suite, which was launched in beta, or test, mode on Monday, can be downloaded from beta.toolbar.msn.com. Google, the Web's top search engine, launched its desktop search tool in October and Yahoo said last week that its own tool would debut in January. Ask Jeeves Inc., another search provider, bought desktop search company Tukaroo Inc. in June and also has said it will launch sometime this month."
• The Wall Street Journal: Microsoft Launches Test of New Software For Searching PCs (Subscription required)
• Reuters: Microsoft Debuts Desktop Search Tool

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer explained how the desktop search battle is different from other facets of search: "Unlike Web search, where users can move easily from one search site to another, the installation and hard-drive indexing required for desktop search makes it more likely for people to run only one program at a time, and more cumbersome for them to switch among the rival services. That makes the initial effort to court users all the more critical."
• The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Microsoft Debuts Desktop Search Tool

Even though Microsoft software powers most of the world's PCs, it looks like Google has the upper hand in the desktop search race so far. "Unlike Google's desktop search, MSN can't search computer files and the Web at the same time. A user must decide which category to search. MSN also doesn't search recently viewed Web sites -- a feature of Google's desktop search that has raised a chorus of privacy concerns -- but it might offer that ability in the future, executives said. 'We thought that we would move more slowly on that and do a better job,' said Yusuf Mehdi, a corporate vice president at MSN, in a conference call with reporters and analysts yesterday," The Seattle Times reported. And more spin, as quoted by The San Jose Mercury News: "MSN representatives sought to differentiate their product from Google Desktop Search, which the Mountain View search company released in October. Google uses a Web browser to search for desktop files; MSN's tool allows users to search from within most common applications. The Microsoft product also searches more file types than Google's tool, MSN said. 'We think this is a way where we have taken the lead,' said Yusuf Mehdi."
• The Seattle Times: MSN Unveils Search Software
• The San Jose Mercury News: Microsoft, AskJeeves Unveil Desktop Search Tools (Registration required)

Symantec Eyes Veritas

'Tis the season for acquisitions. With Nextel and Sprint still trying to hash out a mega wireless merger, the network security space has its own holiday M&A wheeling and dealing. Anti-virus and computer software maker Symantec is in "advanced" discussions with California-based Veritas Software for a more than $13 billion acquisition, The New York Times reported today, citing executives close to the talks. "The deal, which could be announced as early as this week, would create a huge competitor in the software industry that would be a one-stop shop for products to fight a wide range of threats to personal computers and corporate networks. If successfully completed, it would represent one of the largest software mergers," the paper said.
• The New York Times: Symantec Said To Be In Talks for Veritas (Registration required)

Big Brother, At Work

Companies shell out oodles of cash annually to protect their computer networks from prying eyes and outside hacker threats. Now employers are turning their attention to their own workers. USA Today writes about the trend in a feature today: "Many are investing in software that monitors sensitive content inside corporate networks, say security analysts and venture capitalists. The new interest comes on the heels of headline-grabbing security breaches. Executives don't want a repeat of what happened at America Online, where a former employee was arrested in June for allegedly stealing 92 million screen names and selling them." The same article has one of the hokiest quotes of the day, comparing computer threats to, um, candy bars: "Corporate networks are like candy bars: hard on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside," said Rich Mogull, a security analyst at Gartner Research.
• USA Today: Companies Step Up Monitoring Of Eternal Networks

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