Microsoft Corp."s MSN division on Thursday will launch a public beta of its Web search technology, according to sources familiar with the plans. The beta will expand on MSN"s technology preview of its new search engine that has been available through the MSN Sandbox site. MSN launched a second preview last month with a Web index of about 5 billion documents after conducting a smaller two-month test earlier in the summer.
Sources said that the beta will add "more bells and whistles" to MSN"s previous previews and will be more widely available. The launch this week will not involve MSN"s desktop search, which is slated for release in December, the sources said. MSN plans to run its search-engine beta site concurrently with its existing MSN Search site until the technology is ready for a full launch, sources said. MSN Search draws its results from Yahoo Inc."s Web index and search engine technology.