UNIVERSAL SEARCH ENGINE

According to the invention, a search system for searching intranet datasets and Internet datasets is disclosed. Included in the search system are a first interface portion, a preference and a search translation unit. The first interface portion receives a search query from an end user. A preference indicates a target search engine referenced by the search query. The preference is modifiable by the end user. The target search engine cannot be determined from the search query alone. The target search engine may operate upon an intranet dataset or an Internet dataset. The search translation unit that determines the target search engine indicated by the preference. The search translation unit also translates the search query with a syntax used by the target search engine to create a translated search query. The search translation unit is hosted within an intranet used by the end user.