Microsoft is taking aim at Google’s core business with Bing, its new search engine.
Initial reviews around the web are positive. CNET said, “in search presentation, Bing wins.” Geekword said it was not just renamed Live Search, but rather “a significant upgrade that contains new features and a new interface and is considered as a decision engine.” But Search Engine Land made it clear that, “no, Bing is not a ‘Google Killer.’”
FT reporter Joe Menn attended Bing’s unveiling at the D7 conference, and filed this report:
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer gave an impressive demonstration of the company’s improved search engine, rebranded as “Bing,” at a technology conference in Carlsbad California.
The latest effort in a years-long struggle to stay relevant in a market where it is a distant No. 3 behind Google and Yahoo, Bing brings far more relevant information onto the front page of results by pulling more from what otherwise would be searchers’ likely destinations.
In a striking example, searches for major company names returned at the top of the results page not just a link to the official website of those companies but the customer service phone numbers, which are often deliberately buried on corporate sites. It worked for UPS, Amazon and Microsoft itself.
Categories of searches that Bing recognizes as such return a set of useful tabs along with the traditional list of possibly interesting links. For a musician, there are tabs for tickets, lyrics, fan clubs and biographical information. For a city, tabs include attractions, events, and hotels. For a consumer electronics product, there is an automated rating based on a survey of opinions on the Web.
A search for an airline flight number displays the projected arrival time and airport gate number. Searching for flight routes in general returns a projection on whether ticket prices are likely to rise or fall.
Hovering over a link in any search results previews that page in a small box; hovering over the thumbnail picture representing a video in a video search starts that video playing.
