Ballmer says "search deserves a good feature war" as Bing nears release
Don't call it a Google killer. At the D7 conference, Steve Ballmer told the audience while "there is no way to change the whole game in one step,"search engines "deserves a good feature war." The soon-to-be-unveiled Bing is a big step forward for Microsoft.
When it publicly premiers on June 3rd, Microsoft hopes that what makes Bing different will also make it a success.
Eschewing Google's minimalism, Bing brings a different take on displaying results and added eye candy to the fight. Instead of a stark page with a dead-center search box, you'll find the input box hovering over brightly-colored full-page images. Hover over key spots on the image and factoids pop up - another nice touch that makes the search experience a little more "friendly."
Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi calls Bing a "more of a decision engine," designed to assist users in completing search tasks rather than making them sift through possible matches. Results are tailored to a user's query, presenting different views for searches for things like product reviews, travel information, images, and local queries. Bing also makes use of Powerset (who Microsoft acquired last year) to provide previews and snippets when hovering your pointer over results.
There will be plenty more for us to look at once Bing is rolled out. We'll check with you in a few days when the doors are fully opened and see what you think.
(update: watch MS poke fun at Google in the YouTube clip after the break)
[via TechCrunch]
When it publicly premiers on June 3rd, Microsoft hopes that what makes Bing different will also make it a success.
Eschewing Google's minimalism, Bing brings a different take on displaying results and added eye candy to the fight. Instead of a stark page with a dead-center search box, you'll find the input box hovering over brightly-colored full-page images. Hover over key spots on the image and factoids pop up - another nice touch that makes the search experience a little more "friendly."
Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi calls Bing a "more of a decision engine," designed to assist users in completing search tasks rather than making them sift through possible matches. Results are tailored to a user's query, presenting different views for searches for things like product reviews, travel information, images, and local queries. Bing also makes use of Powerset (who Microsoft acquired last year) to provide previews and snippets when hovering your pointer over results.
There will be plenty more for us to look at once Bing is rolled out. We'll check with you in a few days when the doors are fully opened and see what you think.
(update: watch MS poke fun at Google in the YouTube clip after the break)
[via TechCrunch]













Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsCrazy SerbMay 28th 2009 2:11PM
Just checking out the promo video on:
http://www.decisionengine.com/Default.html
makes me go giddy!
And I hate Microsoft from the bottom of my heart... however, gotta be honest, that search engine looks like a one stop shop for all your searching needs.
Can't wait to test it out...
der_tuxmanMay 28th 2009 2:29PM
... the machine that goes Bing!
JamusMay 28th 2009 2:37PM
"A good feature war" might indeed turn out to be a good thing for consumers, but given who it is coming from, I wonder how long before it requires Silverlight to access "enhanced features" or some other obscure addition.
sitrucMay 28th 2009 5:02PM
Some of the improvements to Live that were launched on Tuesday are pretty good.
lecrackzorMay 28th 2009 7:32PM
how many times a week can you guys used the term 'google killer'. google isnt going to die. microsoft isnt going to die. give it up
QuikboyMay 28th 2009 10:42PM
If you honestly think Bing is impressive based on the videos, then what you're basically looking at is already here. It's called Live Search.
Live Search pretty much does everything Bing does. Bing just seems to be more of a different look and layout approach. Maybe it will win people, maybe it'll lose people.
Personally, I don't like the logo to begin with, though I guess the name is better than Kumo, but I wish Microsoft would have a naming and designing contest (would be super awesome).
I think Microsoft is going on the right track by making their search engine more of a information-oriented results, rather than just millions of hits.
sitrucJun 1st 2009 8:23AM
and live is now officially bing preview.