The previous post was the standard press release for the new MSN Toolbar Suite with Desktop Search. I listened in on the teleconference announcement, and jotted down some points that were made.
MSN believes they take the lead in this particular area of search
They believe they are unique in that they have taken personal privacy into consideration. They do not by default cache web pages such as when you log into your bank account, so those pages will not be searchable. Also it respects the privacy of multiple users on a single pc by using windows authentication and account management structure.
Easily enables you to do something with the information you find. For example, if you find the email you were searching for, you can easily forward it to someone from the results.
They believe it searches across the broadest set of content and content types
Will likely come out of beta early next year, depending upon feedback from this beta
Most importantly to me personally, is that it uses the MSN Search beta results for searching the web.
I will post other notes or comments later.