5 Things I Want to Know about Bing

Ian Paul, PC World

1) Will Bing's related search categories work as advertised?

Related search categories are a great idea and are likely the result of Microsoft's acquisition of the semantic search engine Powerset. But in the two examples of search results we've seen -- a search for Taylor Swift and another for Bose speakers -- the queries were product-oriented. However, not all searches are for products like movie times, albums, and A/V equipment. What about non-product-oriented searches for information on historical figures, health issues, or current events? If related categories can't measure up equally across all search topics, how useful will it really be?

2) Will Bing integrate with other Microsoft services?

One of the great things about Google is that you can find direct links to all of Google's most popular services right from the search page. One-click access to Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Reader from Google.com is a great feature, and shows that Google understands how integrated all aspects of your digital life are. Yahoo is also a fan of one-click access to other Yahoo services, but have you ever tried to find a link to Hotmail on Live Search? You can't, because the link to Hotmail doesn't exist.

If Microsoft wants to pull people away from Google and Yahoo, Bing needs to be integrated with all other Microsoft services and not just the ones directly related to search. For example, did you know that Microsoft offers 25GB of free online photo storage? Without a Hotmail account you wouldn't, because a link to the photo service cannot be found on Microsoft's two primary portals: MSN and Live Search. Note to Microsoft: integrate, integrate, integrate.

3) Will Bing go beyond the 10 Blue Links?

Google and Yahoo have spent considerable time making sure their search results go beyond a boring list of URLs. Google and Yahoo have integrated thumbnails of videos, images, and maps within search results for both popular and niche topics. Google is way ahead of Yahoo in delivering more than just links, but Live Search is pathetically behind both of the two search leaders. The majority of Live Search's results are a pure list of URLs; Bing has to do better.

4) Can I trust Bing to work properly?

I'm not sure if this was due to Microsoft's impending search transition or not, but while looking at Live Search for this article the link from the U.S. edition of Live.com to MSN.com was broken, and clicking on Live Search's Rank feature crashed my Web browser. If Bing causes heartache like that, Microsoft might as well forget about becoming a search leader.

5) Is Bing the end of Microsoft's serial rebranding?

For six years Microsoft's search brand was called MSN Search and delivered third-party search results. By 2004, however, Microsoft realized the potential profits in online search, and unveiled its own search engine under the MSN Search brand. It's been an uphill battle since then, with a rebranding in 2006 to Windows Live Search and by 2007 Microsoft dumped the name Windows, opting for the simpler Live Search. That makes Bing the third rebranding in five years, and the fourth moniker overall, for Microsoft's search service. Instead of focusing on constant renaming, Microsoft would benefit from picking a name for its search brand and sticking with it.

Bing's Debut

While nothing is for certain yet, tomorrow Microsoft should grant us a peek at Bing, and the company could even announce a launch date for the search engine. Whether Bing is available tomorrow, next week or next month, you can bet that once the search engine is live, Bing will be judged against the search's gold standard: Google. So what do you think? Will you be Binging by the end of the summer or is Microsoft's search effort doomed to failure?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/165586/5_things_i_want_to_know_about_bing.html

Bing Is Now Your Default Search Engine On IE6, Whether You Like It Or Not

For years, Microsoft has tried to shrug off its reputation as a monopolistic tyrant. Today comes news that seems to undermine those efforts pretty badly.

The Next Web reports that users of Internet Explorer 6 are being forced to use Bing as their default search engine — even if they’ve manually switched their preference to another search provider, like Google. Attempts to switch the browser to something other than Bing result in an error message.

Now, let’s set aside the fact that IE6 is a scourge on the web that opens users up to a wide array of critical security issues and forces developers to implement ugly hacks because the browser doesn’t support many web standards. The fact of the matter is that a sizable number of users are still using IE6 (over 5% of TechCrunch readers still use it, and the global marketshare is closer to 20%). We’re talking millions of users who are potentially affected by this issue.

http://www.techcrunch.com/

Search Smackdown: Bing Vs. Google

That was fast. Irish programmer and SEO specialist Paul Savage has made this very basic web service, which lists all results for search queries on Google and Bing side by side so you can compare which one produces the best results for the keywords you enter on one single page. We've played around with it a bit and found that the tool proves that the user experience for both search engines really is very different:

- searching for 'Google'

Google will show news results about themselves first, and a link to their homepage later, which makes sense since people are probably already on there. The rest of the results consists of Google products and local versions of the search service. Noteworthy difference is the presence of a button that lets you drop down a widget displaying information about Google's stock without the need to leave the page.

Bing, on the other hand, provides a list of possible extended search queries on the left sidebar, and a list of useful direct links to Google services below the first result. It also lists 'similar' searches on the right sidebar (not visible in this screenshot) with alternative services - Bing being the first one they recommend. It also displays a box that you can use to jump to Google search, and it keeps track of your search history right on the page, unless you turn that feature off.

- searching for 'Linux'

Using Google, you get much better results for this query, period. Google lists at least five very relevant links (Kernel.org, Debian.org, RedHat.com, LinuxJournal.com and LI.org) that you will not find in the first 15 search results on Bing. No nifty sidebars, nor any amount of spot-on similar results will help Microsoft here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060200550.html