Microsoft is expanding its family members of enterprise-search products with a new, no cost, entry-level item, Microsoft Lookup Server 2008 Express, which is on account of ship in early 2008.Microsoft made accessible on November 6 for download by way of its Enterprise Lookup Web website a near-complete release-candidate check version for anyone thinking about dabbling with Lookup Server 2008 Express.(Take a look at these display shots to determine what Microsoft;s enterprise-search goods search like.)Enterprise lookup is distinctive from consumer-focused Internet lookup (like Google and Reside Search) in that it attempts to index, lookup and exhibit query responses that draw on structured and unstructured information saved within corporate programs, together with the web.Search Server 2008 Express offers nearly all of the same functionality since the full Microsoft Search Server and SharePoint Server items,
Windows 7 Activation, Microsoft officials mentioned. The Express SKU shares the very same core search engine as Microsoft;s other two server-based enterprise-search offerings — Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Lookup Server (the rebranded standalone enterprise-search product formerly known by the ungainly name of “Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search”). It uses the same centralized administration console and new federated-search performance. And Lookup Server 2008 Express will offer the very same connectors to third-party document-management, ERP and other business software as do SharePoint Server and Lookup Server. And even though it;s going to be a free product, Express Server 2008 won;t limit the number of documents that can be indexed.The Express SKU won;t provide the high-availability and load-balancing capabilities of the other two Microsoft enterprise-search products,
Windows 7 Code/, however,
Windows 7 Code/, officials stated. It also won;t deliver the people and expertise search and BUsiness Data Catalog connectivity that SharePoint Server does. The Express SKU is designed to be simple enough to able to be set up to start searching and indexing in 30 minutes, the Softies stated.When Microsoft ships the final Search Server 2008 Express product in early 2008, it will roll out a number of free of charge connectors that can index content from EMC;s Documentum and IBM;s FileNet aplications,
Microsoft Office 2007, among others. It also will add new federated search features that will allow applications that support the OpenSearch standard to be indexed directly by Microsoft;s enterprise lookup products. Microsoft plans to add these new features back into the base Lookup Server and SharePoint Server goods, possibly through a “feature update” pack.The new Lookup Server 2008 Express,
Office 2007 Pro Plus Key, which was code-named “S2,” is one of a growing number of “Express” products from Microsoft (in the vein of SQL Server Express, Visual Studio Express, XNA Game Studio Express, etc.) that is certainly designed to get hobbyists and other “power users” to try and — Microsoft hopes — ultimately buy more powerful, pricier versions of Microsoft;s tools and apps.“There are more than six million buinesses out there, but only one percent are doing enterprise lookup,” according to Microsoft;s data, said Jared Spataro, a Group Product Manager on Microsoft;s enterprise-search team. “We want 2007 to 2008 to be rememered because the time when enterprise lookup went mainstream.”Have you test-driven any enterprise-search goods? What do you like/dislike about them?