Why MSDN and not Google ?
I got a comment for my previous post regarding MSDN library update for Visual Studio 2005:
"Seriously, why? It is about thrice is fast to hit Google and find the information than to go try to use the local MSDN store"
I decided to compile a blog post instead of answering comment directly because I definitely think that MSDN library more organized and Google is less technical today than before. So - here is why:
- Google is faster ? May be true for most common searches. For example - aspnet_regiis. There are people who are not tired answering it over and over in forums for the last 5 years :) However when you perform some esoteric search - it is hard to find something useful in Google if at all.
- You can easily come across wrong advice in Google. Many examples for that (like deploy WSE). You can come across advice that "works", but sucks...
- Google is far more aggressive filtering technical content lately. 2 years ago you could just copy-paste exception message and find it in the forums. However you have to make more work to find it in Google today, than then. When the search term is more esoteric - it is harder to find it.
- It takes time for Google to index info. In 2002 there was almost nothing useful in Google .NET related. May be a little bit. If it is something technical and brand new, especially best practices - no way it is indexed.
Monday, April 9, 2007 2:02 AM
