Impression on bing
Microsoft recently launched their new search engine named bing. I must say that this is the most decent attempt by Microsoft at search. Previous search attempts by Microsoft are totally confusing and unimaginative. I can't remember if it is suppose to be msn search, windows search, Microsoft search or Live search.
Bing definitely sound much better. It is simple, catchy and easy to remember. So how does it fare?
For a start, I like bing homepage. The interface is simple and the photographs used on the page background are a great visual treat.I am basically checking out bing everyday just to see the picture of the day. It would be great it would be possible to have a higher res for a desktop wallpaper.
So other than looking pretty, how does the bing search engine fare? It is hard to test the bing engine based on search results. I been using bing for a few week and so far the experience has been pleasant. There are definitely some important features that are lacking but there are also some interesting features. It is definitely much more decent than the over hype Cuil .
One of the nice features is the related search sidebar. Every time you do a search, a list of related searches appear on the left side bar and some of the suggested search are pretty interesting and relevant.
For example, searching for technocrunch list a few related search like valleywag, mashable, crunchgear, etc which are pretty good suggestions.
When you move to the right of the search results, a box open up with more details. I think this feature is pretty redundant. I mean if the description on the search results can't get you to click on the link, why would more words make any difference? Furthermore, it is also easier to just click to surf to the page rather than to hover and wait for the extra details to appear.
The search results in general are pretty satisfactory though it the lack of certain features makes it limited. For example, my wife favorite online shop Mayuki does not get listed in bing while it is the first spot on Google search. This could because bing isn't that well indexed in terms of non English sites.
Not found on bing
but on Google, the first result link to this page where Evelyn buys most of her stuff,
Bing also lacks the ability to suggest the right search term when you get your search text wrong. Instead of suggesting a search term that you want, it simply shows you a page indicating no search results were found. This makes Google easier to search if you do not know the exact spelling of the search term. Nevertheless, this should not be a very tough feature to implement and I believe bing will have this feature subsequently.
It is worthy to mention bing image search feature as well. Apart from searching for images based on your search text, you can also filter it further to pictures that are photograph or illustration, black and white photos and photos that have only faces. Though google has similar features for the image search, bing definitely have a nicer layout and much easier to use.
In conclusion, I find bing a really interesting entry into the area of search engines and it is a very good effort by Microsoft. Bing has the potential to be a great new platform for Microsoft to start afresh and experiment with new ideas and products. It is currently disappointing to see that Bing has actually link back to Live for other services instead of keeping the branding distinctive.
I personally hope they would have a new email service (@bing.com). I think it would help attract the younger generation who like to get a new email service with a nice name instead of ending up with long and hard to remember name with overuse email services like gmail or hotmail.
Bing currently seems to be off on a good start in terms of traffic ranking on Alexa and I think Microsoft would be able to give bing a wide reach and awareness based on their marketing power and the numerous channels that they have such as Internet Explorer, MSN, Windows Mobile, etc.
However it would be interesting to see how they are able to actually convert people into using bing as their default mode of search. Even if bing is a good search engine which return good search results, it would still be an uphill task to change people habits and perceptions.
With that said, after having Google as the default search engine for other ten years, it is refreshing to see something new in the search space. It is definitely worthwhile to give bing a try. Even if all else fail, just the different fabulous photographs on bing makes it a refreshing visit everyday.
So what are your thoughts on bing? Do you like it?
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