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by Kip Kniskern on 29 Sep 2008, 04:31 PM with 32 comment(s) and 3,845 views

Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)

Just opened up my www.live.com home page to receive a nice surprise:

livesearchpic

… the less than awe-inspiring blue-gray of the home page has been replaced by a background picture.  This would seem to open up a number of opportunities for special occasions, personalization, and or promotions, as well as just brightening up my day a bit.  Maybe all the cold gray weather here in the Pacific Northwest prompted the Live Search team to remind us that the sun does indeed shine somewhere in the world.  If for nothing else but that, thanks!

Of course this isn’t going to have anything to do with market share, or stock prices, or buying or not buying Yahoo!, but truthfully, it looks great.  Good job, Live Search!

Update: In the comments Vasis linked a different homepage image that he saw. Microsoft confirmed to SearchEngine Land that its still in testing, so if you don't see it yet give it some time.

Posted Jun 12 2008, 05:36 AM by Kip Kniskern
Filed under: ,

Comments

tophtucker wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 5:48 AM

Now it reminds me even more of Ask than it used to. :)

They're gonna need to do a lot more than that to capture search share...

tophtucker wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 5:48 AM

P.S. BUT I would like to say it's a nice touch and I do appreciate it. Modest progress is still progress.

chustar wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 6:18 AM

<whine> I never see this stuff! Why don't I see it when you guys report new additions? </whine>

Pratheep wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 8:41 AM

Even I am not able to see the background picture.

Pratheep

www.aztecsoft.com

Kip Kniskern wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 8:51 AM

Sorry guys, I have no idea why I get these updates so early.  I checked with a few people on IM and nobody had it but me, still up here, though.  I really like it.  Might even keep folks coming back to see the latest image, or create a buzz around certain images, much like the Google logo does.

Alimaggs wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 9:11 AM

Is it just me or does it seem to take a long time for MS to roll out updates worldwide?

If MS decides to do a "Google Logo" on us every now and then, I'll be delighted to see the Christmas logos rolled out to Europe just in time for New Year ;)

In all seriousness, I'm not seeing the images here (so maybe they're just testing it on certain servers or for certain regions) but I think it's a *great* idea.  It keeps it interesting and certainly images based on events would be nice (I'd prefer that to Ask's "pick your own background").  Keeps it fresh, and creates a buzz when a new image is updated.

jamiet wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 9:51 AM

Looks really nice but I'm not seenig it here :(

foaf wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 10:45 AM

I hate to put a downer on this seemingly nice addition, but isn't the atractiveness of Google as a tool a lot to do with its speed of loading. This image potentially adds a few milliseconds to the search time.

Having said that, a growing proportion of searches are probably carried out in the browser bar, so the homepage becomes less important and can afford eye candy additions.

Mephiles wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 4:39 PM

I'm in the Uk and I can't see it. Umm...

calum-r- wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-12-2008 11:42 PM

I can't see it either! :( boo! hiss! lol.

VasiS wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-13-2008 12:18 AM

Wow! that was cool. and this is what i Saw

www.flickr.com/.../o

So, cool.

Chris wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-13-2008 12:59 AM

Vasis: Thanks for the link! Updated the post.

quikboy wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-13-2008 2:47 AM

If they got rid of the "Get Cashback" ad at the top-right, it would look much nicer.

I also think the search box needs another facelift, esp. the magnifying glass button, and center it on the page.

I hope you get to upload your own images. Just a gimmicky feature, but any optional feature is good.

Alber1690 wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-13-2008 4:58 AM

Can't see it either...looks nice though. Most people get entertained by details like that; I know for a fact that some people like to go to Google.com just for their logo.

G-Z wrote re: Live Search adds nice twist to live.com: background picture(s)
on 06-13-2008 2:58 PM

I like the idea and the pics they've chosen.

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