AOL to have desktop searching in new browser

America Online will have a desktop search capability in a new browser the company is now beta-testing, an AOL spokeswoman said Friday.

The spokeswoman declined to provide more details about the desktop searching features of the AOL browser, which is based on Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer.

Generally, desktop search applications index the content of PC hard drives to make them searchable. Traditionally such tools have done a poor job, which is why a variety of companies, seeing an opportunity, are entering the space to try to bring the advances attained in recent years in Internet search to the desktop.

Google Inc. unveiled a beta version of its desktop search tool Thursday, and both Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are expected to come out with offerings in this space. Other players in desktop search include Blinkx, Copernic Technologies Inc. and X1 Technologies Inc.

Desktop searching is still in its early stages, and as such the leadership position is up for grabs, an analyst said.

Searching needs to be equally easy on the desktop and the Web, without the user necessarily knowing which they are searching, said Charlene Li, a Forrester Research Inc. analyst. “There’s still a long way to go, both for Web search and desktop search.”