Ahh Bing. We find it to be the crème le crème of Microsoft’s Live Search. They claim to be the so-called answer to search overload. We’ve all heard of Bing, but will we actually use it? Should Google be scared by a potential new competitor?
Let’s take a tour of Bing, shall we? First of all, Bing is a newcomer in the search engine wars. Google has effectively overtaken just about every single one of its competitors including Ask.com, Yahoo Search, and Microsoft Live Search. In order to beat out Google, Microsoft took Live Search, fed it roids and let it loose, unleashing the beast known as Bing. At first glance, Bing looks exactly like Google. To the side of the default home page are tabs for images, videos, shopping, news, maps, travel, and more. Of course, as you type a word in the search box, a preference list comes up, just like in Google. The web and image search are pretty much exactly the same as Google’s search; not worse, but not better either.
The true essence of Bing appears with the Video Search. For the first time ever, you can preview each and every video that appears to see if it is worth watching. This feature is something that even Youtube doesn’t have! Imagine, pacing around and you just get the sudden desire to see an entertaining video. So you hop on your computer, go to Bing, and do a video search for “kid freaks out over WOW” and voila! Complete videos showing a kid freaking out over his cancelled World of Warcraft account, as well as several remixes. Just put your mouse over the thumbnail and you get a preview of the video, with sound, for about 10 seconds. Plus, you can filter your search further by video length (short, medium, or long), screen type (standard or widescreen), resolution (low, medium, or high), and source (msn, aol, hulu, youtube, etc.).
Perhaps the greatest jump from Google to Bing is Shopping, but this is not your average internet shopping. You see, when you search for something using Bing Shopping, sometimes you might find a little something called Bing cashback. Cashback is a side program where, if you buy something online using Bing, they will take a percentage (usually between 1 to 10%) off of the sale price. This percentage is then returned to you as simply Cashback. After 60 days, you can request you Cashback rewards and it will be returned to you in a Cashback or PayPal account, which you can use like real money. Imagine, you would not only save time when you shop online, you would also save money!
Microsoft redid its entire Live Search Maps with Bing maps. It also included a free download for 3D maps that is browser-based and works pretty well. In fact it is much better than Google Earth, which requires manual downloads of individual buildings, whereas Bing 3D Maps delivers full, 3D replicas of well-known buildings and landscapes right on your map. The only issue with Bing Maps is that the satellite pictures are a little outdated. When finding Saints on both Bing and Google Maps, you can clearly see the new buildings on Google, whereas Bing still shows the construction pit.
All in all, Bing is something to look at and use. My verdict: Google still has a slight edge over Bing with Gmail, Google Docs, and other stuff from Google toolbar. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget Bing altogether. In fact, I’m simultaneously using both right now and waiting and seeing if people will either rewire their brains from Google and switch to Bing, or stay with the big G.
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