Microsoft Releases Free Express Edition Of Search Server 2008

from InsideMicrosoft by Nathan Weinberg

Microsoft has decided to put out a completely free version of Search Server 2008, an Express edition that anyone can download and add to a Windows Server 2003 or 2008 server to get advanced search features for their enterprise search. Microsoft is targeting Google’s search appliance, hoping to get businesses to sign up for the free edition, and hopefully upgrade to the full version of Search Server 2008.

Unlike all of Google’s Search Appliances, Search Server Express has no arbitrary (or rather, price-controlling) document limits, so in some ways even the free version can be more useful than Google’s expensive hardware. There are also connectors being released for EMC Corp.’s Documentum and IBM Corp.’s FileNet, plus support for OpenSearch.

If you have a Server 2003 or better system (32-bit or 64-bit) available, you can download it right here.

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