Bye bye BING!!

[Berryracer]

This has got to be a first. Elop, a serious contender to replace Ballmer as CEO at Microsoft, has discussed his strategy for MS in advance of getting the nod.

The most startling of his announcements is that he would nuke BING. BING is not popular and has cost billions to produce and maintain. It seems like a no-brainer to let it go, however it will be seen as yet another MS failure. Risky risky risky, but maybe a brilliant move on Elop's part.

I will cry no tears if BING goes.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/11/elop_axe_swinging_ceo/

Not an OS matter
-ViRGE

 

[brandonb]

I liked Bing better than the rest. I will be sad to see it go.

 

[lxskllr]

That's bad for everyone. Exchanging a MS monopoly for a Google monopoly isn't progress. There needs to be competition to keep innovation going, and to help keep malicious features at bay.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The money losing Xbox division is also agoner if Elop becomes CEO.

 

[code65536]

http://arstechnica.com/information-...hire-any-ceo-who-wants-to-kill-bing-and-xbox/

It would be extremely stupid and short-sighted. Microsoft needs Bing because of the ever-growing importance of search and web services. This is like saying Google should kill Gmail because it loses money (it probably does) when that's missing the point: Gmail is part of the larger package of services that keep people in the Google orbit and thus generate revenue elsewhere. Microsoft isn't stupid enough to hand over control of something increasingly important to Windows to a competitor that poses an existential threat to its core business. Yahoo! no longer has its own engine, and if Bing leaves, that gives Google a complete monopoly.

And this is all probably moot. These are all just unsubstantiated rumors of the possible actions of a possible candidate for the CEO role (which is why the title of this thread is very misleading and sorry attempt to grab attention).

 

[ShintaiDK]

http://arstechnica.com/information-...hire-any-ceo-who-wants-to-kill-bing-and-xbox/

It would be extremely stupid and short-sighted. Microsoft needs Bing because of the ever-growing importance of search and web services. This is like saying Google should kill Gmail because it loses money (it probably does) when that's missing the point: Gmail is part of the larger package of services that keep people in the Google orbit and thus generate revenue elsewhere. Microsoft isn't stupid enough to hand over control of something increasingly important to Windows to a competitor that poses an existential threat to its core business. Yahoo! no longer has its own engine, and if Bing leaves, that gives Google a complete monopoly.

And this is all probably moot. These are all just unsubstantiated rumors of the possible actions of a possible candidate for the CEO role (which is why the title of this thread is very misleading and sorry attempt to grab attention).

How many years should they keep doing it? There is no future in Bing.

 

[nemesismk2]

bing is my default search engine

 

[Zargon]

How many years should they keep doing it? There is no future in Bing.

see the post above yours.

 

[code65536]

How many years should they keep doing it? There is no future in Bing.

That's just stupid accounting.

Okay, let me ask you, how much does Apple make from Siri each year? Nothing, because Siri doesn't deliver ads, and people don't pay to use it. Yet they spend resources developing it and maintaining the servers to power it. So if Siri was its own division, you'll see lots of red there, too. But it's not accounted for as a separate unit since it's considered part of the mobile OS.

As I said, search and Internet services are becoming and increasingly important part of the computing experience, especially in mobile. On Android, the Google Search app has gone from a small standalone app to now the central part of KitKat (it renders the homescreen on my N5!). It doesn't matter that Bing isn't profitable because Bing's greatest role right now is as a shield and hedge for the very profitable OS division. Worrying about Bing's profitability is like worrying about the profitability of IE.

 

[PowerYoga]

Youtube loses hundreds of millions of dollars every year, so google should just shut it down right?

 

[ShintaiDK]

I can see the chart was a sore point to some. Its not me you need to convience, its the possible future MS CEO.

But again, bing is a financial disaster. I doubt any of the CEO candidates will let it live.

http://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_...hould-You-Focus-on-Both-With-Your-SEO-Efforts

http://searchengineland.com/report-global-paid-search-spending-up-18-in-2012-145127

 

[Elixer]

That's bad for everyone. Exchanging a MS monopoly for a Google monopoly isn't progress. There needs to be competition to keep innovation going, and to help keep malicious features at bay.

Pretty much this.
We need more search companies, not less.

 

[Gillbot]

No more free hulu from bing searches? No need for bing.

 

[Subyman]

I can see the chart was a sore point to some. Its not me you need to convience, its the possible future MS CEO.

But again, bing is a financial disaster. I doubt any of the CEO candidates will let it live.

http://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_...hould-You-Focus-on-Both-With-Your-SEO-Efforts

http://searchengineland.com/report-global-paid-search-spending-up-18-in-2012-145127

Actually, those are pretty promising. Yahoo is a complete disaster because it was around when Google was in its infancy. Bing just hit the scene around 4 years ago and is already double what yahoo's marketshare is. Absolutely no one expected Bing to dethrone Google any time soon. Slowly whittling away will be the story of the next decade.

 

[Zargon]

I can see the chart was a sore point to some. Its not me you need to convience, its the possible future MS CEO.

But again, bing is a financial disaster. I doubt any of the CEO candidates will let it live.

Its only a 'financial disaster' if it was intended to make $$$



not everything a company does == make money directly

FYI

 

[StinkyPinky]

I can see the chart was a sore point to some. Its not me you need to convience, its the possible future MS CEO.

But again, bing is a financial disaster. I doubt any of the CEO candidates will let it live.

http://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_...hould-You-Focus-on-Both-With-Your-SEO-Efforts

http://searchengineland.com/report-global-paid-search-spending-up-18-in-2012-145127

I'm actually surprised how high their share is. I thought it was less than that. Was thinking 2% at best. Google is so dominant people use it as a verb "Have you googled it?"

 

[AlexKidd5000]

Great! Now all they have to do is get rid of Windows!

 

[Pardus]

 

[RandomFool]

Yeah that's not going to happen. Getting rid of Bing would be incredibly stupid.

As others have pointed out Bing isn't just a search engine. It powers a good chunk of Microsoft's back-end services. Not to mentioned Bing integration was a big part of Win 8.1.

 

[WelshBloke]

Maybe Elops trying to emulate his success at Nokia?
He'll run Microsoft down, cancel windows and go with Linux.
Then he'll sell Microsoft off to Apple and try to get a job with them.

 

[R0H1T]

Maybe Elops trying to emulate his success at Nokia?
He'll run Microsoft down, cancel windows and go with Linux.
Then he'll sell Microsoft off to Apple and try to get a job with them.

I wonder if he could land a job at Apple, provided he's able to run MS down first, then maybe replicate his dastardly err disaster run at Apple & then sell it(whatever's left of it) to Google

But for once I agree with Barry i.e. Bing is not needed though MS would be well advised to keep it for what it's potentially worth in the future & especially with the tremendous growth of web/mobile ad space MS could still turn this loss making venture around.

 

[NickelPlate]

Having just paid to have a customer web portal developed for my business, I'm glad I stuck with Google maps as opposed to Bing which is what the devs originally suggested.

 

[darkewaffle]

Bing search is fine on my phone at least, my only real experience with it. I've always found what I needed. The only thing that attaches me to Google is my muscle memory of typing "g (subject)" into my Opera bar for the last decade.

 

[Imaginer]

I liked Bing better than the rest. I will be sad to see it go.

That's bad for everyone. Exchanging a MS monopoly for a Google monopoly isn't progress. There needs to be competition to keep innovation going, and to help keep malicious features at bay.

Agreed. I use it over Google. It is on par and a bit better in some searches. Also, it is nice to have a direct web search in Windows alongside local file and application searching. Their map software isn't as battery intensive as gmaps brings my phone to being a hand warmer verses the built in map software on my HTC 8X (however limited in functionality in comparison with some route planning)

 

[Imaginer]

Bing search is fine on my phone at least, my only real experience with it. I've always found what I needed. The only thing that attaches me to Google is my muscle memory of typing "g (subject)" into my Opera bar for the last decade.

"b (subject)" and I believe it is there as a default.