The BBC is reporting that Microsoft are going to open up their online book search tool, Live Search Books, tomorrow.

Intended to compete with the already started Google Book Search, Live Search Books will start with a library of books from the British Library, the University of California and the University of Toronto.

I think it’s really good that there’s good competition between Google and Microsoft in these web-based services. It keeps both Microsoft and Google on their toes and producing really good products.

For example, Google really pushed the envelope (pun intended) with Gmail, and it has forced Microsoft (and Yahoo as well, but I’ll come to them) to get to work on updating their email services.

Meanwhile, Yahoo seem to be struggling. I’m sure you’ve already read elsewhere about their recent corporate reorganisation, and while Yahoo are doing some good things, they’re not keeping up with the pace of innovation Google and Microsoft are setting in the web service arena. A large proportion of people are aware of Google Maps/Local or Windows Live Local (or both), but how many people would fire up Yahoo Maps? The new Yahoo Mail Beta does have Ajax and nice features, but to me it seems a lot more bloated than both Gmail and Windows Live Mail Beta.

I’m not saying Yahoo Maps or Mail are worse products – for the most part they’re actually on par with Google and Microsoft’s offerings, but Yahoo is increasingly being seen as a company from the ‘old web’ and rapidly losing their appeal to Google and Microsoft.

Yahoo will have to do some serious thinking if they want to get back in this game. They won’t die quickly – they still do a lot of content providing (like Yahoo News) and have a good share of the webmail market, for example. But alarm bells must be ringing at Yahoo HQ, because they need to innovate now if they’re to survive.