"Internet Keywords" Promise to Simplify Web Search

In its latest effort to compete with America Online (AOL), Microsoft has purchased 20% of RealNames Corporation and will integrate RealNames’ Internet Keyword technology into Internet Explorer (IE) and MSN. RealNames’ technology allows users to navigate the Web using common names, which RealNames calls Internet Keywords, without having to know the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a Web site. For the past two years, RealNames has been pushing the idea of using Internet Keywords as a significant improvement over navigating the Web with cumbersome URLs. With Microsoft now backing the system, the RealNames service could finally achieve that goal and, in the process, turn RealNames into a gold mine.

Internet Keywords is a naming system that accommodates names, phrases, and foreign characters to simplify Web navigation. For example, the conventional way to locate the home page for the Ford Explorer would be to navigate through Ford Motor Company’s Web site, or to type in the URL for the Ford Explorer Web site: http://www.fordvehicles.com/vehiclehome.asp?vid=8. With RealNames, simply typing “Ford Explorer” in the IE 5.0 address bar takes the user to that page. The RealNames system is one of the first commercial implementations of a new Internet name service called Common Name Resolution Protocol (CNRP). For an overview of CNRP and Internet Keyword technology, see the sidebar, “RealNames Proposes a New Internet Naming Standard“.