] REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft plans to introduce a news
] aggregation service for Web logs and to develop a social
] networking product, a company executive said on Friday.
]
] Speaking at the company's annual online advertising
] conference, Yusuf Medhi, MSN's corporate vice president
] of information and merchant services, spoke about the
] company's "big investment" in search. He highlighted
] MSN's recent release of a search toolbar for the browser
] and its new News Search, which aims to deliver more
] relevant results using personalization.
]
] In addition, he flagged planned Web log and
] social-networking products, and said the Microsoft
] division plans to develop natural language-processing
] algorithms. This technology would permit visitors to ask
] questions such as "What's the highest mountain?" instead
] of using simple keywords.

Microsoft's aggressive search plans revealed - News - ZDNet