Bing

http://www.bing.com/ComingSoon

by mshafrir • 17 years ago

65 53 17 years ago

bing.com

solutionyogi• 17 years ago

I will never be able to 'Bing' and Decide.

There is only one Bing, Chandler Bing!

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler_Bing ]

lukifer• 17 years ago

Ned! Ryerson! Bing!

russell• 17 years ago

It's a video demo of bing, a supersonic flyover of the features. The demo is obviously consumer oriented, but the teaser in interesting enough that I will give it a try for my consumer searches. Recently my SO and I made a trip to Virginia and Washington for her daughter's wedding. We did a lot of tedious planning using Google. If bing can ease the process, I'll use it.

Most of my searches are tech related. Google is pretty painful, but I hold little hope that bing is going to be my salvation. When in the name of <insert your favorite deity> is anyone going to implement HN-style modding for search results?

chanux2• 17 years ago

duckduckgo.com the search engine recently featured on HN might help you.

nostrademons• 17 years ago

"When in the name of <insert your favorite deity> is anyone going to implement HN-style modding for search results?"

Google already has it. Have you played with SearchWiki?

anuraggoel3• 17 years ago

A user's SearchWiki rankings do not influence other users' search results. Yet. Till that happens, it's not really HN-style modding.

potatolicious• 17 years ago

I like what I see so far - the usability of Kayak and its similar aggregators is pretty poor at times, and recently the quality of their results have been dropping precipitously. If MS can step in to fill this void... oh boy.

I think MS has something worthwhile here - they've realized that people are looking for information, not links, and if they can get good data together, they stand a good chance of beating Google at the search engine game, without ever building a traditional search engine.

whatusername• 17 years ago

stackoverflow maybe?

Only a Q&A - but the up/down voting on answers is kinda nice.

chanux2• 17 years ago

Is this where Kumo ended up?

petemack• 17 years ago

Yes, Kumo (and Kiev) are the internal codenames.

edmccaffrey• 17 years ago

Most of the people I know will see the image on the main page and think it is some type of specialized search engine, and not come back.

kaiserama• 17 years ago

That is if they even realize that they are supposed to perform a search.

I'm all for market competition and I realize that MS feels as though they HAVE to do this, but this seems a lot like MS's failed attempt at revamping their search a few years ago. And back then they had the advantage of having an operating system that people didn't despise. Without a good tie in (unfair advantage) with an OS and what appears to be an attempt to get people to shift the way they search I think this is doomed.

encoderer4• 17 years ago

Honestly, man, most people don't care enough about their OS to despise it. My parents or wife or non-techie friends have ever said anything bad (or good) about Vista. It's just there.

I firmly believe it's a case of tech echo chamber at work.

I will add that when I gave instructions on disabling UAC it did result in "oh, that's good" type of comments. But I did that proactively. Never had them come to me seeking relief from it. Kinda like when a loud furnace shuts off in the winter and it's so much more pleasantly quiet, but you didn't even notice it when it was on.

teilo2• 17 years ago

What I find fascinating about this is not the technology itself. It is that Microsoft has, as much as possible, done their best to hide the fact that this is a Microsoft product. Unless one looks at the page footer, which is in a small light grey text (in zone-out land, in other words), one would have no idea.

This is right in line with their "surprise! it's a PC" campaign. If one watches the corresponding campaigns, Apple is unabashedly proud of being Apple, Google about being Google, but Microsoft seems to be embarrassed about being Microsoft.

I am rather curious where this will go, and how consumers will react. Of course, Microsoft wins if people ignore the company and just buy the product.

stcredzero2• 17 years ago

Monopoly/near-monopoly has let them abuse their brand to the point of trashing it.

One ironic aspect of this: one can see this as Microsoft trying to compete by offering "better customer service," if you can call repackaging search results "customer service." Perhaps it's better termed as "superior, seamless customer experience."

Perhaps they're onto something. If Google really doesn't offer better data than Microsoft or Yahoo, then Google's advantage is in their Brand. Microsoft can combat this by starting a new Brand, and stand behind it with the same quality of data, but a superior customer experience.

EDIT: On second thought, Microsoft may be behind the game again. The target to chase shouldn't be Google Search. I suspect it should be Facebook and Twitter. Google Wave might leapfrog Microsoft here.

yawniek• 17 years ago

this could work. i see strong tendency to easy of use and simple tools. people are sick of searching and fighting with technology. nobody wants IT, yet they are addicted to it.

qeorge• 17 years ago

That's a really good point about customer service. Google's customer service is awful (AdWords & AdSense) because they're so insistent on not involving a human. In the same way as 90's MS they've used their monopoly as an excuse for bad customer experiences.

Testing indicates its not the result quality that makes people like Google's results better, but the brand. So I agree - going directly after the brand makes a lot of sense.

encoderer4• 17 years ago

Pimping "Google Wave" seems a little too deep into the hype machine for my tastes. Nobody ever heard of it last week and now it's going to "leapfrog" something..

We'll see. A lot of things stand in the way of Bing gaining traction, the least of which is a product that itself has no traction. IMO, naturally.

markessien2• 17 years ago

Because "Microsoft", as a brand, is recognized as a corporation. "Google", as a brand, is a search engine. People don't want to use corporate branded things daily. It's why the IM is called MSN Messenger and not Microsoft Messenger.

On a branding level, some things work better if corporate branded, some if independetly branded. You can't just throw the same brand identity at everything.

Imagine for example using "Procter & Gamble Soft Soap", "Procter & Gamble cleaning fluid", etc.

teilo2• 17 years ago

And how, then, do you explain Apple? Microsoft used to put their name, prominently, on everything.

tptacek2• 17 years ago

This probably has nothing to do with Microsoft's brand equity and everything to do with the fact that people's first association to Google is (and always will be) search, and their first association with Microsoft will never be search.

You could make the same observation about the fact that people use Kleenex and not Kimberly-Clark Wipes.

joeyo• 17 years ago

  > You could make the same observation about the fact that
  > people use Kleenex and not Kimberly-Clark Wipes.

Unless you work in a wet lab, then you definitely use Kim Wipes.

dhs• 17 years ago

[P]eople's [...] first association with Microsoft will never be search.

Not only is this not about Microsoft, it's not about Search either. It's all about Decision now, in a sort of semantic landgrab.

mattmaroon2• 17 years ago

Step 1 for building a popular search engine might be to stop changing the name every 2 years. Just a thought.

staunch2• 17 years ago

Step 1 is knowing that the name alone doesn't mean shit.

encoderer4• 17 years ago

The brand is the only thing that matters. Everyone here saw the post last week, consumers gave Live Search the highest marks when it was dressed up with a Google logo and stylesheet.

The brand is it. And branding doesn't sink or swim based on name alone, but it isn't a trivial factor.

TallGuyShort• 17 years ago

It looks like they're trying to make a mix of Google and Wolfram-Alpha. Not a bad idea - let's see if they can make it work.

whalesalad• 17 years ago

All the flight stuff is farecast.

joanou• 17 years ago

I read it last night thinking the name was a joke.

drawkbox• 17 years ago

The name and logo is weak branding so far. But,I think that Google built their service not by marketing but by functionality. So they have a chance. However Googling something and Binging it is much different in verbiage.

I think that digg or (dig) is actually a great name for a search engine. I think for the branding after the fact it has to be something that works in a verb. Bing it! is better than live or MSN search it but still, bing?... Cannot help but think of Chandler Bing and it isn't as mathematically cool as Google is.

But I guess Bing does mean these, as to which it will become is yet to be determined.

- Bing is a Unix program which is essentially a ping with added network throughput measurements. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_(program)

- Bing is a Chinese term used to describe dough-based Chinese flatbreads, pancakes, unleavened dough foods, or indeed any food item with a flat disk ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_(Chinese_flatbread)

- A slag heap (also called bing, Boney piles, culm, waste coal, Terekons (Russian), gob piles, or slate dumps) is a pile built of accumulated tailings, which are by-products of mining. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_(mining)

- Prison solitary confinement, a term used by inmates; A heap or pile, such as a slag heap en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bing

socratees• 17 years ago

Just another "I'm a PC campaign."

Zoasterboy• 17 years ago

Bing Is Not Google B.I.N.G.

Anyone else notice that? Microsoft is using the GNU style recursive acronym. Irony at its finest.

Bing

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