Are you interested in Bing?

Oct 27, 2007
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You may have heard of Kumo, Microsoft's internal search engine rumoured to be a competitor to Google and replacement to Live Search. If you've got your ear to the floor you'll know they officially announced the product under the name Bing, which is due to launch in a couple of days.

Check out the video: http://www.decisionengine.com/Default.html

I think it looks pretty damn nice. Do you think this will take a bite out of Google's search share? If you're interested CNet has an article where they got to play with Bing and had some positive things to say.

I can't say I'm crazy about the name, but I am impressed by what I've seen. One fallacy I see thrown around a lot is people writing this search engine off because they think it's so unlikely that it will surpass Google in market share. The thing is, it doesn't matter! Every percentage point in search share is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If MS can increase their share by just a few percent then the project will pay for itself many times over. I believe this is their goal, at least in the short to mid term.
 
Oct 27, 2007
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Originally posted by: between
google gives me pretty much everything I need in search, and more. I'm not sure what microsoft could offer that would make me want to switch.

I thought the same thing about AltaVista before Google came along. I'm not saying that this will be the case, but often we don't realise how much we were missing until someone comes along with the product that shows us. This especially applies with the internet, where we are still in the very early stages of development.
 

M0RPH

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
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I guess they were trying for something catchy but I really don't like the name.
 
Oct 27, 2007
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Neither do I. I actually thought Kumo was a good name, especially because it means both 'spider' and 'cloud' in Japanese, both of which make great sense considering the software.
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
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Looks like the search engine categorizes results and acts as an all-in-one health, price comparison, and travel database (is that the Farecast system?). It's not doing anything new and revolutionary, just pooling together some of the features on search engines and sites already in existence.

It's definitely interesting, though. I'll give it a shot when site goes live, but I doubt I'll be using it instead of Google.

?
 

JJChicken

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2007
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Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Originally posted by: between
google gives me pretty much everything I need in search, and more. I'm not sure what microsoft could offer that would make me want to switch.

I thought the same thing about AltaVista before Google came along. I'm not saying that this will be the case, but often we don't realise how much we were missing until someone comes along with the product that shows us. This especially applies with the internet, where we are still in the very early stages of development.

very very true

bing is looking good in the restaurant/tourism searches
 

XZeroII

Lifer
Jun 30, 2001
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The reason why they chose Bink is because it can be used as a verb. Just like how people say "Google it", you can now say "Bing it".

I'll give it a try but I really like Google. I hope that they do something really good because searching hasn't really changed much in years and I'm looking forward to some innovation.
 
Oct 27, 2007
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Originally posted by: between
sure, but do you you really think, even for a moment, that that kind of revolutionary innovation is gonna come from... Microsoft? We're talking about a company that has stolen or copied almost every product it sells. Google created something new. One day, something/ someone will replace Google, but it won't be produced by microsoft.

Even if we assume that this is true (which it isn't) it's not relevant. Bing doesn't look to be revolutionary, in the same way that Google was never a revolutionary product. Innovation does not imply revolution, and Bing looks like an evolution of search in the same way that Google was an evolution of the poor search already around.

You may argue that MS has never released a revolutionary product (I disagree) but you'd have to be blind to miss the massive innovation in the company that has lead to the many successful products the have released. So I'm willing to concede that it's highly unlikely that Bing is a revolutionary product, but I've never seen anyone claim that it will be. Will it be an evolutionary improvement over currently available search products, worthy of using in lieu of Google? We'll see in a few days I suppose.
 
Oct 27, 2007
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Originally posted by: videogames101
Originally posted by: Chris
wolfram|alpha > *

Again I fail to see how this is relevant. Wolfram Alpha is a computational engine, not a search engine. you may as well say ice cream > *. Sure, ice cream kicks ass, but is it better than Bing/Google? Well that's a pretty stupid comparison.
 

LS21

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Nov 27, 2007
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i am not interested in ANYTHING microsoft creates. see how hard they push out the LIVE stuff?
 
Mar 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: LS21
i am not interested in ANYTHING microsoft creates. see how hard they push out the LIVE stuff?

Live is just a unified branding of Microsoft streamlining their services. I guess for whatever reason it might bother Microsoft haters, but for anyone who uses more than one of their services its very nice (one userID/password).