Microsoft have decided to take advantage of this trend by purchasing Medstory, a medical search engine that will provide users with information on ailments they may have otherwise acquired from a high street chemist or pharmacy. When looked at from another angle, this development becomes very interesting: the last time you were in the pharmacy waiting to buy cough medicine, did you notice a line of customers in front of you asking for medical diagnoses on strange and varied ailments? If the answer is yes, then you'll be familiar with a growing trend across the world - that pharmacies are effectively becoming doctor's waiting rooms.
Today, however, it is in fact quite natural for modern online users to search for symptoms and cures on the net, even if it is just to check to see if they are sick or if they should go to the doctor. But what happens when the hypochondriac goes online?
A heavy disclaimer sits on the bottom of the Medstory site, as well as the Beta tag, warning that: "Medstory does not provide medical or any other health care advice, diagnosis or treatment". This clause states that all the information found on the medical search engine does not legally represent the aims or wishes of the site owners - now Mircrosoft But is this fair? After all, this search facility is not simply that: it has been tailor made to provide specific medical information if a user types in a certain query, providing particular information about drugs and medical conditions.
While Medstory's medical search technology will undoubtedly be of infinite use to many web users, it may seem to some that the search engine would be better placed to provide information on the availability of hospital beds and A&E waiting times than how much Fluoxetine it takes to combat obsessive-compulsive disorders.
