Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005, 7:15 am
Imitation at Microsoft
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ollowing a recent item on imitation at Microsoft and in relation to what has become a trend, surfers spotted a stunning resemblance between an MSN search test-bed (start.com) and Google’s popular personalised pages. The test-bed is supposedly maintained by interns, but it projects badly on claims for innovative thinking over in Washington. To persuade yourself that the pages are inseparable, have a look at the screenshots below and click to enlarge.
Google’s personalised portal on the left and Microsoft’s clone on the right; click images to view them in full size
August 3rd, 2005 at 8:31 pm
I agree that a lot of Start.com is copied from Google but, as much as it pains me to say it, I actually prefer the Microsoft version.
I know that the whole point is that it is customisible but I think that “Quote of the Day” is a pretty silly default.
August 4th, 2005 at 3:30 am
Would you believe that Word of the Day makes one of the most popular feeds on the Web? Different strokes to different folks… but not to computer scientists, I guess.
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:49 am
Just for your information, Start.com came out before Google’s personalized page. If anything Google copied it.