According to sources familiar with testing, America Online Inc. is developing its own desktop search technology that will initially be added to the AOL Browser beta as early as the end of this week. AOL"s entry into the space pits it directly against rival Microsoft Corp., which has designs for a desktop search engine of its own.
AOL Desktop Search is one of many value-added features shoring up America Online"s upcoming alternative Web browser, currently code-named AOL Browser. AOL Browser is a stand-alone application based upon Internet Explorer and is independent from AOL"s client software. Although AOL Browser shares the same underlying engine as Microsoft"s Internet Explorer, many features more commonly found in AOL"s Netscape brand can be found in the release. These additions include tabbed browsing, a pop-up blocker and toolbar buttons that produce thumbnails of Web pages when users hover over them.