And no, I’m not being a smartass and suggesting that you cut Google out of the picture (after all, Britannica and Merriam-Webster have their own sites).  Instead, Tony Ruscoe writes, “I’ve found a way you can enable the dictionary and thesaurus features now – even before they’re released!”

Should you follow Ruscoe’s instructions, don’t expect everything to work perfectly.  “It’s obvious why this hasn’t been released yet,” according to the Google Blogoscoped guru, who cites a number of bugs and strange problems.

Aside from programming issues, there’s also the matter of Google’s taste in partners.  After all, Britannica isn’t exactly a go-to resource for a lot of people, and Ionut Alex Chitu, who seems to have first found the hidden features, notes, “It’s rather curious that Google didn’t opt for everyone’s favorite encyclopedia, Wikipedia, and choose the oldest English-language encyclopedia still in print, but also an encyclopedia hard to access online for free.”

Yet Google Docs could bring in Wikipedia at some point in the future, even as the search engine giant will presumably address the minor problems Ruscoe discovered.

Direct links to Live Search appear for each definition in Merriam-Webster. The ResourceShelf website noted the new linking.

This effort places Live Search in a logical place for people to find. It’s reasonable to think someone hitting Merriam-Webster for information is engaged in some research. Enabling a link from a definition to more information at Live makes sense.

Other links on Merriam-Webster point to content at a couple of other authoritative resources. Many definitions also point to partial content appearing on Encyclopedia Brittanica, while health-related ones have links to HealthLine resources.

Microsoft has made efforts over the years to be more of a presence in fields where people in education would encounter their products. Once upon a time, Apple owned the education market, but that has changed thanks to heavy competition and a growing need for students to bring computers to school, particularly in college environments.

The Encarta encyclopedia has been a Microsoft staple for many years. Instead of visiting a bookshelf full of heavy paper copies and paging through them, people can search faster for topic content.

There’s also the need to promote the brand as back-to-school sales become much more prominent for many people. The demand is not as great as during the end of year holiday periods, but a lot of people want to purchase a new machine in August for their offspring.

Microsoft fell behind with its Vista consumer launch. They will have to make up some ground for lost holiday sales that affected their OEM partners as much as themselves.

Having tie-ins to valuable, educational properties like Merriam-Webster could be a selling point beyond the desktop/notebook/tablet PC. Since so many people carry powerful cellphones, and Merriam-Webster offers software for the Windows Mobile OS, maybe this Live Search tie-in hints at a future mobile focus on the mobile-using youth market.