Microsoft finally has a decent desktop search: http://toolbar.msn.com/desktop/results.aspx?FORM=PCHP

First impression: Why MSN? Why oh why? I really dislike MSN. They insist on sticking their damn butterfly all over the place, and feel the need to add tons of links to useless content I don't want to see (while still no equivalent of Google Groups, as far as I can tell). I don't wanna see a damn butterfly and links to dating inside of Outlook! I hope this just a temporary fix until Windows/Office get their search fixed up. And, the place you'd really expect and hope for integration is not there: Searching IM history. Duh.

Microsoft's using the usual tactic to promote their lame offerings by forcing them along with something you actually want. I won't say it's wrong. It's probably good for business. But I sure as hell hate it. But, I guess that's the price you pay when another division cleans up for someone else.

Oh yea, they ignore guidelines, and put a bloody shortcut on your desktop without permission. I guess they thought that even with having it automatically added everywhere else, you might *still* have problems starting it. Sigh. Even MS can't listen to MS guidelines. Oh wait, this is MSN, nevermind.

The deskbar is a nice idea, but unfortunately, having another band on my desktop really sucks (since it takes the full verticle space, wasting lots of precious taskbar space). And, unfortunately, the hotkey to start search doesn't work if the band is closed. Sucky. 

A workaround is to simply disable the MSN Toolbar (lameness incorporated), Outlook integration, and deskbar. Then, go into your start menu, right click the MSN Desktop Search, and assign a shortcut. Enjoy searching without cluttering up your apps.

Apart from MSN's spam-like tendencies, it's a good solid offering. MSN shows some of it's MS-ness here:

   - Awesome UI. The deskbar is really cool. Not worth the space loss, but almost. The search results go right the program -- no browser nonsense.

  - Network indexing!!! YEA. Now I can search the source on my Linux development machine easily. 

  - Outlook-integrated search (right where I need it).

I'm really happy with it. What I really want is Office and Windows to integrate this into their products, rather than having it be a big MSN orgy.

At any rate, I've already said goodbye to Google Desktop. Yey!