Bing -- Or Should it be "Boing"?

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
In case you haven't heard, Microsoft is trying to compete with Google (again) by coming up with a new search engine.  They are calling it "Bing" -- as in the sound of a bell going off when you find something you want.  Microsoft is kicking things off with a $150 million ad campaign.  The service is supposed to launch in the next few days.

Let me just say that I'm not inspired by what I've read and seen so far.  At the heart of Bing is a belief that people want their search engine to help them decide what to view.  Bing will take your queries and parse out "suggestions" for you based on your search string.

Under this scheme, the assumption is that the software understands what you want and knows how to tailor results to that assumed understanding.  Anyone who has experienced Microsoft's "suggestions" in the past knows that this is usually a disaster.  Do you remember wanting to kill "Clippy?  And the fact that Microsoft is getting major advertising dollars means -- in my mind -- that the "suggestions" are not going to be purely based on what I am looking for.

And to top it off, their marketing materials are horrendous, in my opinion!  Check out this marketing video, and tell me if it inspires confidence, or confusion:


You can go to YouTube and view a few other videos, all of them of equal value.  They are paying $150 million for that kind of stuff?

My assessment: Bing is going to sound more like "boing" -- as in the sound of a heavy spring flopping aimlessly.

Anyone else want to weigh in?

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[mwhafner]

Microsoft is kicking things off with a $150 million ad campaign

I think you have stumbled across the fundamental problem with the "technology giants".  Microsoft (and Cisco, and several others) are no longer technology companies, but marketing firms.  It is no longer a race to see who has the best product, but who has the best ad budget. 

 

[Matthew Schenker]

I think you have stumbled across the fundamental problem with the "technology giants".  Microsoft (and Cisco, and several others) are no longer technology companies, but marketing firms.  It is no longer a race to see who has the best product, but who has the best ad budget.  

Good point.  And the big problem I have is that what we all think of as "information" is getting more and more influenced by a small number of big players.

When you think of how fundamental search engines have become to who and what we think of and what we do, it's scary to know that advertising dollars have so much influence on the results.

Of course, this has been going on for a while now.  Google's results have become increasingly sketchy as the company receives more paid placements.  And it just keeps getting worse.  This new "Bing" thing seems like it takes this issue and goes in an even worse direction.

Seems to me that "suggestions" = "paid advertising" here.  Plain and simple.

Another thing that's going on, I believe, is that the big information companies are getting more and more distant from real-world needs.  If you look at those advertising materials, it's as if Microsoft has no clue what actual people want and need from their search engines.

And yet another issue is that the sheer volume of information is becoming too difficult to handle.  Any attempts to make more sense of it are bound to fail, in my opinion.

What can we do?  I guess we have to hope that a new search engine starts up that does pure searches, without commercial interests.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[peter halle]

A search engine that didn't require advertising to survive?  Not likely.  How do the bills get paid?

A forum that doesn't rely on advertising - PRICELESS!

Peter

 

[Greg_R]

BTW, Google does the same exact thing with their search engine (AdWords). 

 

[harry_]

I loathe all things MicroSoft.

Makes me think of the sales pitch: "If we ain't got it, you don't need it".

Of course I have twisted it up to read more like: "If I have to use M$ or Windoze, It can't possibly be worth doing"

Yeah,..... I'm a Linux user (10+ years).

 

[butzla]

I love Big Brother.