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Microsoft calls a halt to book scanning

27.05.08 Philip Jones

Microsoft is "winding down" its book related search projects and is to stop digitising books, including its library scanning and in-copyright book programs. The decision is a remarkable volte-face from the giant software group, which launched Live Book Search as a competitor to Google's Book Search initiative. Book search results will now be integrated in its main seach portal, and will be driven from content on publishers' own sites.

Writing on a Microsoft blog Satya Nadella, senior vice president search, portal and advertising, said: "Based on our experience, we foresee that the best way for a search engine to make book content available will be by crawling content repositories created by book publishers and libraries."

Microsoft said that it had digitised 750,000 books and indexed 80m journal articles. The group said that it intended to provide publishers with digital copies of their scanned books.

"We recognise that this decision comes as disappointing news to our partners, the publishing and academic communities, and Live Search users," Nadella added.

Philip Jones Google Microsoft book search Home digitisation

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By affordable digitization

Book digitization has become so efficient and affordable these days that even small local shops or community libraries can do their own so Microsoft is not needed. http://www.atiz.com

25 May 08 14:33

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By Greenriver

Surely the point with Live Book Search was not the digitization per se but the fact that people were directed to books that contained the phrases they were searching for and therefore were relevant to their needs? But Google does this job already, so I guess Microsoft figured that there's not really room for two companies to do it. It is a strange and sudden u-turn though, after they were at the London Book Fair exhorting us all to become involved.

27 May 08 16:19

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