Microsoft made available their new search engine “decision engine” Bing today, two days earlier than expected. As I browse the popular tech news sites one thing is clear to me…nothing is clear. While still in its infancy, some folks like it and some don’t (gee!) BTW, word has it Microsoft chose the name in hopes it will become “verbed” as in “I googled binged it.” Here are some interesting observations and opinions about Bing.
TechNews World: The article title, “First Impressions: Blah-da Bing” summed it up, no likey. But specifics noted were; “its travel section doesn't top Yahoo's; its shopping section features rather bland products; and its page arrangement is inconsistent.”
ZDNet: Larry Dignan had a nice first impression of Bing calling it quick, with a clean interface, and producing handy searches. Chris Dawson had another take. “Bing is simply a spiffed-up of Google with Microsoft tools like Expedia and Encarta working in the background.” And an even stronger negative ZDNet reaction came from Zack Wittaker who called the Bing name stupid, the front page cluttered, and said it offered nothing new. He also said people just want to search, meaning get rid of the “interesting” facts Bing incorporates into its graphics when moused over. By the way, I happened to think those facts were interesting when I test drove the preview site.
CNet: Rafe Needleman called Bing much better than expected, touting in particular the search presentation, and the video searching.
PC World: David Coursey basically says, “So what?” He called Bing “strikingly Google-like” and pointed out that nothing impressed him searchwise.
Only time will tell whether Bing has a real shot at challenging Google. I plan to try some searching on Bing and form my own humble opinion.
Erika Moskal
WBS Connect
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