Microsoft is scheduled to announce today (at IT Forum in Barcelona) a business version of its Windows Desktop Search (released in May), writes CNET. The enterprise version integrates search abilities into the Windows operating system and Microsoft's Office suite. Businesses using the tool would be able to decide what gets indexed and searched on corporate networks - Windows Desktop Search does not index or crawl data in corporate intranets.

The desktop has become a search battleground for Microsoft, Google and Yahoo; Google launched a business version of Google Desktop earlier this month.

Microsoft views the business version as an intermediary step before it releases the next version of Windows, called Vista, writes the Associated Press. Vista is expected to provide better built-in search capability to help users more quickly find documents, email and other data stored on Windows-based computers and networks.

In the meantime, Windows Desktop Search will work with other products, including those of competitors, that search corporate networks.