Microsoft partners with Yahoo to digitise libraries

Microsoft could become the good guys of the information profession as it targets Google by joining the Open Content Alliance

Software giant Microsoft has joined the Open Content Alliance (OCA) and Yahoo to become a direct rival to Google in the scramble to digitise the world's libraries. MSN, the web search and community division of Microsoft, will launch MSN Book Search next year as result of the collaboration.

Despite the name, MSN Book Search will also deliver results from academic material, periodicals and other print resources a Microsoft statement said, putting the service in direct competition with Google Scholar and Print search services. Microsoft said it is joining the OCA led digitisation programme because 50% of people's online questions go unanswered, according to its own research.

Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, a not for profit archive of the web, and the organisation behind the OCA, said the addition of MSN to the OCA would create a "more relevant search experience".

As with Yahoo, Microsoft has made it clear from day one of its book digitisation plans that it will work with copyright holders to legally scan titles that are still protected by copyright law. Unlike Google which faces court action for scanning copyright protected books.

"We believe people will benefit from the ability to not just view a page, but easily act on that data in contextually relevant ways, both online in the search experience and in the applications they are using," said Christopher Payne corporate vice president of MSN Search, hinting at the workflow technology Microsoft can embed between its desktop applications and MSN Book Search. Microsoft already integrates Factiva searching into its Office applications such as Word, allowing Factiva subscribers to search the news aggregator's database from Word instead of switching to a web browser.

Microsoft is already working with a number of libraries and educational establishments across the globe, it said, developing indexes of information. " By combining our deep software investments in advanced reading technologies and community based applications such as MSN Messenger, and new capabilities in the Windows platform will combine to make a powerful book search experience that will help people access new information and interact with it in entirely new ways," Payne said.

Microsoft is in a powerful position, its MSN service attracts 420 million unique users a month from around the world and its entry into the web search market with MSN Search 12 last year was critically successful.