In the May 28, 2009 New York Times article "Microsoft's Search for a Name ends with a Bing", Miguel Helft revealed the software giant's quest to rival Google. Originally determined to purchase Yahoo, the second most popular search engine, Microsoft abandoned the idea in favour of developing new technology for navigating the web. The fruit of their labour is the curiously named Bing, another nonsense word that Microsoft hopes will compete with Google as the next pop culture verb.
If it catches on, ‘Bing it!’ could find its way into your home, office and ultimately, the dictionary. Short, snappy with a friendly, musical ‘ing’ sound, Bing is meant to evoke the sound of a bell or the signalling of an ‘aha’, eureka moment that apparently comes when you find what you are looking for. but silly words aside, is Bing really unique enough to rival Google?
Bing's Unique Features
According to Microsoft, what distinguishes Bing is its table of contents or navigation rail that allows users to refine their search. Entering ‘Persian cats’ for example, will result in a number of choices such as ‘purchasing’, ‘caring for’, breed characteristics’ thereby reducing the number of irrelevant links. Like Google, Bing also blends images, news, videos, but according to the developers, offers more detailed search results.
Bing searches in four categories: travel, health, shopping and local. Searching a movie title will not only result in clips, but information on local screenings and ticket purchases. Is this new? While it is certainly true that searching for specific information can be frustrating, a search engine only works with the parameters given. No matter how sophisticated, it can not discern or intuit.
A search for information on ‘moving to the UK’ under Bing’s travel category, for example, will not result in more nuanced links to crime statistics or finding work in the UK, without the necessary search terms. Instead, Bing seems geared toward steering the search toward relevant advertising. A search for ‘moving to the UK’ will produce links to airlines, hotels, car rentals and other sites designed to sell products rather than provide information.
The Joy of Random Searches
There is also something to be said about discovering new places and people that you may never have stumbled upon in your search for the perfect home, job, cat, or girlfriend. Part of the joy of researching a topic is following the rabbit trail where it leads and finding new paths or new connections. A generic search for ‘writing jobs online’ may lead to a grant applications, which may lead to a poetry competition which may, in turn, lead to a whole new network of possibilities that would be filtered out through Bing.
Bing went live on June 3, 2009 and it remains to be seen whether the online world will embrace Microsoft’s technology, or, as one Google tech quipped, assign it the unfortunate acronym ‘But Its Not Google’ and carry on Googling usual.
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