Microsoft today announced Bing, a new search engine to help people find information and make decisions. Microsoft calls Bing a Decision Engine rather than a search engine. It is designed to help make better decisions in four key areas; making a purchase decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition, or finding a local business.
Greg Sterling at SearchEngineLand did a side by side comparison of Bing vs Google, complete with screen shots. Greg says;
My overall assessment is very positive. Kumo, now Bing, has performed well and I’ve been satisfied with the results. There haven’t been any significant deficiencies or missing links (so to speak). While there have been a few occasions where I’ve found Google results to be better, the substantial gap that existed between Google and Live Search is largely gone with Bing.
Microsoft has integrated the Powerset technology to varying degrees and made numerous algorithmic improvements on the “back end” that are largely opaque to me. More obvious are the interface upgrades and changes. While many people are accustomed — even habituated — to the Google UI, I appreciated the often richer visual presentation and generally “cleaner” organization of Bing SERPs.
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak is a big fan of Bing. Woz said “"That was the most astounding software demo I've every seen," “I thought it was going to be all marketing and sales pitch…I was really impressed.” “I have been begging for this stuff for years” Take a minute and watch this interview with the Woz. He is not easily impressed, and certainly no fan of Microsoft, so this is a huge vote of confidence.
In a press release Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said “Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find.” “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”
Last week I wrote about some of the Microsoft search improvements of the last 6 to 12 months and found it to be as good as Google, and in some cases better. With the launch of Bing next week I think the public will take another look at Microsoft’s search technology and come away impressed.
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