Microsoft FQC-04765, GLC00182, GLC01878, GLC00184, GFC00941, GFC02021 Search and Federated Search

Search Federation

Windows 7 for IT Pros: Make People Productive Anywhere

Remove Barriers to Information

Search and Federated Search

In Windows 7, search is better integrated with enterprise infrastructures to help people more easily fi nd the information they need. They can search in more places more easily—including remote data sources and within encrypted fi les—and IT professionals can publish important search locations through Group Policy. In addition, Windows 7 search signifi cantly reduces the impact of indexing e-mail in Microsoft Exchange Server when Cached Exchange mode is disabled.

Search results in Windows 7 are more relevant and simpler to under- stand, and workers can easily narrow down or expand the locations being searched. In addition, Federated Search provides out-of-the-box support for searching beyond the user’s PC. Developers and IT profes- sionals alike can confi gure document repositories, Web applications, and proprietary data stores to be searched from Windows 7, with- out writing and deploying client code. This ability enables people to

search these remote indexes easily as they search their local fi les—all from within the same familiar Windows interface.

Federated Search supports the public OpenSearch 1.1 standard, so with a few minor updates, Web developers can take advantage of existing investments in RSS lists to quickly return results to Windows

7.In most cases, this represents a few days’ work for a Web developer. After a server has been made capable of responding to OpenSearch requests, a simple data-driven install fi le (called an Open Search Description File) is used to integrate the search results into Windows Explorer in Windows 7. These Open

Search Descriptors can be placed on Web sites so that people can install them in a manner similar to subscribing to an RSS feed today. Offi ce SharePoint Server 2007 and many third-party products already support Federated Search, so companies can immediately begin taking advantage of this feature in

Windows 7.

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