Microsoft To Offer Free Business Search Tools

In the next year, Microsoft is intending to give away a new product dubbed “Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express.” If you are not familiar with the Express strategies at Microsoft, look into the Visual Studio initiative and be sure to listen to my Podcast with Dan Fernandez, Product Manager for Visual Studio Express.

The product will enable workers to see a collection of search results spanning databases, internal computer systems and the Internet. There will be a paid version that is more scalable, but the free version will offer small businesses capabilities that were previously very expensive.

“We really believe enterprise search is at a tipping point,” said Jared Spataro, group product manager for enterprise search. “We really think people will look back on this time as the time when search went from just being a consumer tool to one that businesses can harness.”

Look for a release candidate version Tuesday and the final version and paid version next year.

Beyond internal search, expect integration with Google News, Wikipedia and Businessweek as well as integration with Windows Live.com search engine.

The new products are a derivative of Microsoft Sharepoint Server.

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