The new Federated Search Connectors are not just for Windows Enterprise Search but Windows 7 too (think “Add cool and easy searching of these sites to Windows 7”)

Vedant Kulshreshtha - Federated Search Connectors for Enterprise Search

“Federated Search Connectors allow a search solution based on any Microsoft Enterprise Search product  - Microsoft Search Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft FAST Search for SharePoint 2010, Microsoft Search Server 2008, or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to pass a query to a target system and accept and display results from that system. For details and guidance refer to the Federated Search Connector Gallery for Enterprise Search

Following connectors were made available for download through the Microsoft Download Center yesterday:

• Bing Search Connector
• Bing News Search Connector
• Bing Image Search Connector
• Bing Local Search Connector
• MSDN Search Connector
• TechNet Search Connector
• Yahoo Search Connector
• Yahoo Images Search Connector
• Google News Search Connector
• Google Blog Search Connector
• YouTube Search Connector
• Wikipedia Search Connector
• Flickr Search Connector
• Encyclopedia Britannica Search Connector
• The Register Search Connector
• Business Week Search Connector

Some of the connectors are available in 2 formats: .osdx (OpenSearch Description) and .fld (federated location definition)

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Federated Search in Windows

The same connectors can be used for federated search in Windows (Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2) too. Federated Search in Windows article describes Windows 7 support for search federation to remote data stores using OpenSearch technologies that enable users to access and interact with their remote data from within Microsoft Windows Explorer.

To try out a connector, just download its .osdx file and click on it. You should get a prompt like this:

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Click on “Add” and you are ready to start searching.”

At first I pretty much ignored these download items as I don’t have much day-to-day Enterprise Search connection, but on seeing the above post and the Windows 7 hook, I decided to take a second look. And guess what? It’s pretty cool…

First download the OSDX file(s). Foe example, here’s the Encyclopedia Britannica Search Connector download;

Save it somewhere, open it and when you get the “Add Search Connector” click on “Add”

That’s it. Done. Installed.

You can now search the given site directly within Windows 7, just as if it were a local resource…

In my book I think that’s pretty cool… :)