Longhorn Wants You to Organize, Not Search

Apparently Microsoft has decided to take a different approach for finding stuff on your desktop in Longhorn, the next Windows operating system, due in 2006.

Instead of utilizing a search motif as previously planned, Longhorn will offer better organization of files so that you don’t have to search. It will also rely more on RSS and XML to help you get information.

If it’s true, that’s an odd decision because, as Danny points out, people don’t know what they want. There’s no stopping the search mentality because it’s so natural to human existence. When we don’t know where something is, we search for it.

It almost sounds like Microsoft is planning some sort of tagging system, and if so, that would be interesting, but I’m willing to bet that Microsoft is primarily taking this approach as a way to pull the rug from under Google.

If MS can wean people from the need to search, they have a better chance of undermining Google’s bread and butter — fast and easy information retrieval.

Read about Microsoft’s different approach with Longhorn’s desktop search

Cory Kleinschmidt is co-founder of Traffick.com, which offers a unique analysis of search engine and eBusiness trends. As Webmaster of Traffick, he designed the site, and continues to maintains it and contributes informative articles for webmasters and internet professionals.