I consider Google to be the best WWW search engine. Apparently Microsoft thinks so too. There's a < href="http://www.google.com/microsoft" target="new">Microsoft specific version of Google available. This is very handy for anyone interested in filtering out results of a non-Microsoft nature. This will now be my first stop when I have a technical question.

I don't know how long this version of Google has existed, but it is interesting to note that there are reports that Microsoft is working on their own search engine technology. Having a third-party such as Google provide search engine results presumably means that the top results for a given search are determined in a "fair" manner. Will Microsoft be "fair"? Or will the temptation to have positive reviews and commentary appear at the top of any Microsoft product search be too strong?

I hope they avoid the temptation. If they don't and people discover the deception then Microsoft might as well just give me the money they're spending since no one will use their search. I suspect people will be skeptical to begin with and I wonder if Microsoft will make a point of explaining the technology behind their search to justify the search results.