In a move to return at least more or less significant share of the search engine market Microsoft launched this year a new product called Bing which is advertised as “decision engine”. The new online searching tool was unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 28, 2009 at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego. Bing replaced its predecessor Live Search and came as a rather different and innovative approach to searching the information on the Internet.
Looking back at the history of searching engines development in Microsoft we see that Bing appeared as the brainchild designed to justify hopes pinned on it: to become a competitive service that can pose real challenge to the only company that has been dominating the market, which is, as we know, Google. Bing is the latest innovation of Microsoft that substituted and descended from MSN Search, Windows Live Search and Live Search.
Eventually Microsoft even entered into a remarkable agreement that failed to occur last year: an agreement with another rival in the industry Yahoo! On July 29, 2009 the two companies announced a 10 years deal that means Yahoo’s search engine is replaced by Bing.
"Through this agreement with Yahoo!, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company," said Mr Ballmer.
"I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of internet innovation and development" noted Carol Bartz, Yahoo! CEO.
So, the war of search engines has started…
Pre-history in brief
Main aspects that make Bing different from its predecessors are related to the systems on which they were based. While almost all the technologies deployed by Bing belong to Microsoft, previous search engines leveraged some third party services.
MSN Search first launched in the third quarter of 1998 and used search results from Inktomi, that is owned by Yahoo. Later in 199 MSN Search launched a new version where listings were partially provided by LookSmart and Inktomi. And a short period of time after it MSN Search was deploying the system provided by AltaVista that is also owned by Yahoo.
Since that time Microsoft developed its own searching technologies so that MSN Search could provide its own self-built search engine results (list of web addresses with samples of content that meet a user's query), the index of which is updated weekly or even daily. The update was introduced as a Beta in November 2004 and was officially launched without Beta mark in February 2005. The images were searched through the technology provided by a third party, Picsearch.
In 2006 MSN Search was replaced by Windows Live Search in an ambitious move to make its over 2.5 billion worldwide queries each month "more useful by providing consumers with improved access to information and more precise answers to their questions."
When Microsoft shifted from MSN Search to Windows Live Search it ceased deploying services from Picsearch. Instead it started providing image searching on the basis of their own internal image search algorithms.
Later in March 2007 the software maker announced the rebranding of its search engine so as to separate its search developments from the Windows Live services family. The searching engine now was renamed as Live Search.
In the course of a numerous reorganizations and consolidations all Microsoft's search offerings were made under the Live Search branding. The company discontinued such separate services as Live Search Books, Live Search Academic, Live Search Books Publisher Program, Windows Live Expo, Live Search Macros and Live Product Upload.
Eventually, the company came to a decision to create a new identity for Microsoft's search services, Live Search was officially replaced by Bing on June 3, 2009.
But It’s Not Google
The origin of the name given to the new search engine comes from an onomatopoeia. With the help of the focus group Microsoft has chosen the name as it was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that it would function well as a URL around the world. The company says that Bing would remind people of the sound made during "the moment of discovery and decision making." Surely, justifying thus the speculations, Microsoft availed itself of the branding consulting services provided by Interbrand in their search for the best name for the new search engine.
Meantime, Qi Lu, president of Microsoft Online Services, also announced that Bing's official Chinese name is bì yìng (simplified Chinese: 必应; traditional Chinese: 必應), which literally means "very certain to respond" or "very certain to answer" in Chinese.
When Microsoft conducted internal tests of the new search engine the codename of the service used by the employees was Kumo. The word comes from the Japanese word for spider as well as cloud, referring to the manner in which search engines "spider" Internet resources to add them to their database, as well as cloud computing.
Bing is often referred to as a recursive acronym for BING – But It’s Not Google.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
While there are many opinions and views on how substantially Microsoft has changed its search engine, actually we may say that something just passed to Bing as a heritage from the predecessors, something was borrowed like semantic technology from Powerset which was purchased by Microsoft in 2008, something was really new, and something remained blue as you can see it in the sign of “B” letter that appears in the address bar after you load bing.com page. Yeah, that was like a wedding. Well, if we look at it in view of Microsoft’s deal with Yahoo then it really was…
Background image
It is only at present time many Internet users have paid attention to the fact Microsoft uses background images on the webpage of its search engine. However, as you can see from the image we posted above image backgrounds were already in use with Live Search. Meantime, Bing design offers daily changing of the pictures and allows users to leaf over the previous images used as a background by means of the arrows in the left bottom corner of the screen. Besides, users can hover over the image and there will be pop-up prompts that contain the information about the history of the image or the event it depicts.
Explorer pane
Explorer pane based on semantic technology from Powerset is the most notable feature introduced by Microsoft. Set as a left-hand navigation menu this additional panel includes Quick Tabs that break searches down into Web Groups relevant to your search. For instance, a search for Bette Midler generates possible categories you may be looking for.
Besides, the Explorer pane panel also provides you with the history of your searches which seems very convenient as it allows you not to type again and again the same key words for the things you had been looking fore before.
Categorized results
After you type the keyword in the search bar and press the magnifier button the engine presents you the list of results that appear under the headings categorized by Bing. As dor the top results they come from the Internet and are not categorized.
Quick preview
When you got your query results you can make a quick preview of the webpage that contains those keywords you requested. When you drag your mouse cursor over individual search results, a Quick Previews box of data pops up.
Instant answers
This is a very convenient option as it eliminates the need to load the corresponding page that contains the information you need. This feature enables to get access to the common questions related to currency conversion, weather forecasts, movie times, or whatever you're investigating.
Save&Share
Save & Share option allows users to save and share the search results with the services like Facebook or Windows Live. Besides, users can also save them to your Microsoft SkyDrive folder. The concept behind this new service is that 50% of all the searches a re repeats and thus Save & Share allows Internet surfers to eliminate starting their searches over again.
Image and Video Search
Though many users today started noticing the feature that allows you to preview videos by mouse hovering over thumbnails. But actually this feature existed in Live Search before Bing appeared. Yet, according to Microsoft Bing Image and Video Search is more intuitive than its predecessor.
Airfare and Hotel bargains
On the basis of Farecast technology it purchased in 2008 Microsoft provides Internet searchers with additional convenience in seeking for best bargains when there is a need to book an air ticket or hotel room. Farecast represents a tool for comparing airfares. It uses a predictive algorithm to recommend when you should purchase your airline ticket. Besides, Bing calculates the historical price of a room at a specific hotel, compares that price with the current rate that the hotel is offering, and assesses whether the current price is a good deal.
Bing cashback
Bing cashback represents a special service that allows online shoppers to save money when they make purchases on the web. As Microsoft says users can find deals on millions of products from hundreds of trusted brand name stores. This service enables you to earn a percentage of the product price as cashback. Microsoft says: “After we wait for potential returns and exchanges, your savings will be rewarded to you by your choice of a deposit to your PayPal account, direct deposit to your bank account, or a check in the mail.”
Conclusion
These are not all the features added by Microsoft to its brainchild Bing. But even these show that the company has really done its best to justify the name under which it markets its searching service: “decision engine”. Yeah, we can also say that Bing not just helps you search for some information, it provides you with mass of information out of which you can select whatever you need or want. It is good both for ordinary Internet surfers and businesses.
Subscribe to Ecommerce Journal RSS feed
Share this story
What are these?