Microsoft released their newest search engine beta implementation today,Tafiti (Swahili for “do research”) . Tafiti merges Microsoft Live search and Silverlight , their newest web technology display mechanism, to provide a very unique visual experience compared to other search engines like Google and Yahoo.

The cool thing about this search engine is not the engine itself but the design of the user interface. The user interface works around the idea of a card catalog, which you can search by filling in note cards with the desired terms. In one corner is a rotating graphical menu that allows you to choose different search mediums including RSS, news, images and books. One of the neat features allows the user to drag particular results off to a side bar or “Shelf” used for stoarage. You can add multiple search results to one shelf creating a stored list of search results that can then be shared with other users of Microsoft Live.

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One of the most interesting features is the trea view window which you can get to by clicking the tree icon(Pictured Above). This presents a 3-d moving representation of the structure and what I guess is the relatedness of the search. Overall, I really appreciate the design aspects of the application and I like what Microsoft is doing with the Silverlight technology. While this definately feels, acts and looks cool, I don’t know if I would exchange the beloved Google search with it.

Check it out at:
www.tafiti.com

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