EMERYVILLE, Calif., Dec 15, 2004 -- Ask Jeeves(R), Inc. (ASKJ), a leading provider of information retrieval brands, today introduced a beta desktop search application. Fast, relevant, and flexible, Ask Jeeves Desktop Search(TM) makes it easy for people to find information on their computers or the Internet. The product is available free for download this afternoon at http://download.ask.com / desktop.
Ask Jeeves Desktop Search helps people overcome the challenges of information overload by enabling them to quickly and easily search the hundreds, even thousands, of files, word-processing documents, presentations, spreadsheets, photos, music and video files, applications and email messages on their computers.
"Ask Jeeves Desktop Search extends our world-class technologies and user-centric approach to search beyond the Web, to the information located on people's computers," said Jim Lanzone, senior vice president of search properties at Ask Jeeves. "Ask Jeeves Desktop Search will complement our recently-introduced MyJeeves(TM) personal search service and is an important step in our personalization strategy. We look forward to receiving feedback on the beta release, as we continue to develop the product in line with people's needs."
Product highlights include:
- Fresh, Full-Text Index: Upon installation of the small (750K) application, Ask Jeeves Desktop Search creates an index of the information stored on a person's computer. This process enables users to search by file name, as well as by file content. The application currently supports a wide range of file types, including Microsoft Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), simple text files, Microsoft Outlook email messages, and image, music, and video files. Ask Jeeves Desktop Search constantly monitors the computer (with minimal impact on system resources) for new and deleted files and email messages to ensure the index is always kept up to date.
- Fast, Flexible Search: Like searching the Internet, users simply type key words into a search box to let Ask Jeeves Desktop Search scour their computer for matching results. Users can narrow their searches by selecting categories like Office Documents, Music, Pictures, MyJeeves, News and others, or they can sort results by a variety of parameters. Controls are also provided for users to define how much of their computers they want Ask Jeeves Desktop Search to index, as well as the speed (and thus the amount of bandwidth devoted) with which they want it indexed.
- User-Centric Design: Ask Jeeves Desktop Search is very simple to learn and use. The program takes search beyond the paradigm of 10 blue links and returns results in a two-panel interface where previews are displayed for easy review. (This is especially useful for browsing photos and email messages.) Users will also find a search box conveniently added to common Windows file dialog boxes, such as Insert/File or File/Open, where the process of finding files is frequently required.
Ask Jeeves expects to add new functionality prior to the formal launch of the product in 2005. Some of these features include expanded support for Outlook, integration of desktop results and Web search results, and PDF support. A Feedback menu is provided directly on the application interface to make it easy for users to submit comments and requests for new features.
Ask Jeeves Desktop Search works with Windows 2000 or XP, Office 2000 or higher, and Outlook 2000, XP and 2003. The program requires a minimum of a Pentium III computer running at 400MHz with 128 MB RAM (1 GHz and 256 MB RAM recommended).
About Ask Jeeves, Inc.
Ask Jeeves, Inc. provides consumers and advertisers with information retrieval products across a diverse portfolio of Web sites, portals and desktop search applications. Ask Jeeves' search and search-based portal brands include: Ask Jeeves (Ask.com and Ask.co.uk); Ask Jeeves Japan (Ask.jp, a joint venture); Ask Jeeves for Kids (AJKids.com); Excite (excite.com); iWon (iwon.com); My Search (mysearch.com); My Way (myway.com); My Web Search (mywebsearch.com) and Teoma (teoma.com). Ask Jeeves also owns the search technology Teoma, proprietary natural language processing technology, as well as portal and ad serving technologies. In addition to powering several of the Ask Jeeves brands, the Company syndicates its technologies to help companies increase revenue through powerful search. Ask Jeeves' advertising division, AJinteractive, provides advertisers with targeted tools to reach a broad base of valuable customers. Ask Jeeves, Inc. is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with offices throughout the United States, as well as in London, England and Dublin, Ireland. For more information, visit http://www.Ask.com or call 510-985-7400.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements regarding the future are forward-looking statements, including those statements regarding the planned release of Ask Jeeves Desktop Search, the planned improvements to the desktop search application and its anticipated benefits. The matters discussed in those statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, Ask Jeeves' actual results in the future may differ materially from management's current expectations. Although management's expectations may change after the date of this release, Ask Jeeves undertakes no obligation to revise or update the statements above.
NOTE: Ask Jeeves, Ask.com, Ask Jeeves Desktop Search, Teoma, My Way, My Search, My Web Search, iWon, Excite and MaxOnline are trademarks or registered trademarks of Ask Jeeves, Inc.
