More than two years after Google launched its Google Desktop Search for Windows application, limited initial support for the Linux platform is available. Of the top three major search engines which offer desktop search software (Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft), Google is the first to try to win the hearts and minds of both Macintosh and Linux users. Yahoo and Microsoft solutions are both limited to Windows.

For Google, search is strategically important, wherever it happens.

Why are the search engines offering free desktop search software?

Desktop search is strategically important to search engines. Personal computer users searching for information with a desktop search application are just one click away from seamlessly integrated web search.

Controlling desktop search means controlling traffic to a web search engine – a very lucrative business as demonstrated by Google’s economic results.

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Marketing professionals know that brands are worth big money. A brand name and logo serve as an instant shorthand to convey a mental image of a product or service. Companies invest extensively when developing and launching a new brand name. Once launched, brand names are fiercely protected.

Looking for Trenitalia?

It was thus with surprise that I noticed several weeks ago traffic to Trenitalia being redirected to the parent group’s website which carries the old retail name, Ferrovie dello Stato.

Looking for this?

This is what you’ll get.

Stranger yet, timetable queries made from the Ferrovie dello Stato home page produced results using the orario.trenitalia.com subdomain with the Trenitalia name and graphics. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the redirect was accomplished with a simple client side meta refresh tag – rather than the preferred server side method to set a permanent 301 or temporary 302 http redirect status.

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