diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/SearchCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/SearchCommand.php
index 59c9231bf..0a4779ea5 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/SearchCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/SearchCommand.php
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use Composer\Repository\CompositeRepository;
 use Composer\Repository\PlatformRepository;
 use Composer\Repository\ComposerRepository;
 use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
+use Composer\Package\AliasPackage;
 
 /**
  * @author Robert Schönthal <seroscho@googlemail.com>
@@ -56,10 +57,14 @@ EOT
             $repos = new CompositeRepository(array($installedRepo, new ComposerRepository(array('url' => 'http://packagist.org'))));
         }
 
-        $tokens = array_map('strtolower', $input->getArgument('tokens'));
+        $tokens = $input->getArgument('tokens');
         $packages = array();
 
         foreach ($repos->getPackages() as $package) {
+            if ($package instanceof AliasPackage || isset($packages[$package->getName()])) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
             foreach ($tokens as $token) {
                 if (!$this->matchPackage($package, $token)) {
                     continue;
@@ -73,15 +78,16 @@ EOT
                     $name = $package->getPrettyName();
                 }
 
-                $version = $installedRepo->hasPackage($package) ? '<info>'.$package->getPrettyVersion().'</info>' : $package->getPrettyVersion();
-
-                $packages[$name][$package->getPrettyVersion()] = $version;
+                $packages[$package->getName()] = array(
+                    'name' => $name,
+                    'description' => strtok($package->getDescription(), "\r\n")
+                );
                 continue 2;
             }
         }
 
-        foreach ($packages as $name => $versions) {
-            $output->writeln($name .' <comment>:</comment> '. join(', ', $versions));
+        foreach ($packages as $details) {
+            $output->writeln($details['name'] .' <comment>:</comment> '. $details['description']);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php b/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php
index 7591ebfe2..c66972ca6 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Command/ShowCommand.php
@@ -83,15 +83,32 @@ EOT
         }
 
         // list packages
+        $packages = array();
         foreach ($repos->getPackages() as $package) {
             if ($platformRepo->hasPackage($package)) {
-                $type = '<info>platform: </info> ';
+                $type = '<info>platform</info>:';
             } elseif ($installedRepo->hasPackage($package)) {
-                $type = '<info>installed:</info> ';
+                $type = '<info>installed</info>:';
             } else {
-                $type = '<comment>available:</comment> ';
+                $type = '<comment>available</comment>:';
+            }
+            if (isset($packages[$type][$package->getName()])
+                && version_compare($packages[$type][$package->getName()]->getVersion(), $package->getVersion(), '>=')
+            ) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $packages[$type][$package->getName()] = $package;
+        }
+
+        foreach (array('<info>platform</info>:', '<comment>available</comment>:', '<info>installed</info>:') as $type) {
+            if (isset($packages[$type])) {
+                $output->writeln($type);
+                ksort($packages[$type]);
+                foreach ($packages[$type] as $package) {
+                    $output->writeln('  '.$package->getPrettyName() .' <comment>:</comment> '. strtok($package->getDescription(), "\r\n"));
+                }
+                $output->writeln('');
             }
-            $output->writeln($type . ' ' . $package->getPrettyName() . ' ' . $package->getPrettyVersion() . '<comment> (' . $package->getVersion() . ')</comment>');
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/PlatformRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/PlatformRepository.php
index 12d5a6aa8..495155276 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/PlatformRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/PlatformRepository.php
@@ -36,14 +36,15 @@ class PlatformRepository extends ArrayRepository
         }
 
         $php = new MemoryPackage('php', $version, $prettyVersion);
+        $php->setDescription('The PHP interpreter');
         parent::addPackage($php);
 
-        foreach (get_loaded_extensions() as $ext) {
-            if (in_array($ext, array('standard', 'Core'))) {
+        foreach (get_loaded_extensions() as $name) {
+            if (in_array($name, array('standard', 'Core'))) {
                 continue;
             }
 
-            $reflExt = new \ReflectionExtension($ext);
+            $reflExt = new \ReflectionExtension($name);
             try {
                 $prettyVersion = $reflExt->getVersion();
                 $version = $versionParser->normalize($prettyVersion);
@@ -52,7 +53,8 @@ class PlatformRepository extends ArrayRepository
                 $version = $versionParser->normalize($prettyVersion);
             }
 
-            $ext = new MemoryPackage('ext-'.strtolower($ext), $version, $prettyVersion);
+            $ext = new MemoryPackage('ext-'.$name, $version, $prettyVersion);
+            $ext->setDescription('The '.$name.' PHP extension');
             parent::addPackage($ext);
         }
     }