Bing Goes Live – Live Goes Dead
Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, went live this weekend in the United States. Bing is thought by many as Microsoft’s newest attempt to get in on the search market online, trying to wedge Google out of the business.
Bing.com has a colorful home page and has links to search engines for specific things like videos, travel, shopping and more. There are also tabs that allow Bing users to view Microsoft cash-back rewards programs they can search for, along with pages for Webmasters and developers.
Microsoft has stated that Bing is made to give a better search experience to users. Search results with Bing show not only items related to the term but sites where users can make purchases and more. For example, if you search for a flight to Toledo, Bing will give you accurate prices and flight availability, along with information on purchase decisions, trip planning, local businesses, and health conditions.
Microsoft is definitely trying to cut Google out of the search engine market. That task may not be so easy when you consider that, to date, Google controls 64% of the search market in the United States. Microsoft, in comparison, controls 8% of the same market, according to ComScore. Yahoo controls a large 21%, although Microsoft and Yahoo have been talking about merges. They have not yet reached a compromise or buyout terms for Microsoft to takeover Yahoo’s search property.
Microsoft announced Bing.com at D: All Things Digital, a conference in Dallas. The announcement ended months of speculation by Internet users about what Bing would be.
Microsoft will spend the next few weeks adding more products and new technology to Bing.com, hoping to make it even more appealing to Internet searchers. They’ve been criticized before for giving a confusing amount of products with hard-to-understand names. For example, Live Search, Windows Live Search and MSN Search.
Microsoft Virtual Earth users should also now be aware that the mapping platform is now called Bing Maps. The technology that Microsoft bough in 2008 from Farecast has also been added to the Bing Travel section of the website. You can also access Bing Cashback through Bing.com, which is a cash-back search program.
