As a response to Google Scholar, Microsoft launched Windows Live Academic Search, beta version.

Dedicated to scholarly literature, Google’s specific search engine enables the user to search across many disciplines and sources like: papers, theses, books or articles. As an answer to what Google has put on the market, Microsoft comes up with Windows Live Academic Search which is designed for students and researchers.

Comments upon this new tool provided by Microsoft have already come along. Users are more enthusiastic with the Live Academic Search than with Scholar. With a more suggestive interface, Microsoft’s product feeds the user with a better sorted information than its opponent does.

Combined efforts of Microsoft and CrossRef,a non-profit group which operates a citation-linking polatform allowing researchers to legally access millions, and other 10 publishers do pay off as the information the user obtains proves to be truly accurate and up to date. There has been signed a partnership between Microsoft and the following: the Association for Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Reed Elsevier and Wiley&Sons, allowing this way users of Live Academic Search to access all kind of source journals.

Though the beta release is focused on topics of computer science, electrical engineering and physics, subjects like medicine, psychology, history or art will also be covered in the next improved versions of the service.

Using the feedback given during the beta period, Microsoft plans to bring improvements to the today’s project.