Bing Brings It To Search
Bing is Microsoft’s new entry to the search market replacing Live Search as the vehicle slated to compete with Google and Yahoo! When you first arrive at bing.com you get a lovely background image that is a worthless pleasantry one might expect from Microsoft as opposed to the stark geared for function screen you get at google.com. But tests seem to prove that Microsoft has build a very functional search utility in Bing.
Microsoft claims that Bing delivers greater depth in it’s search providing more pertinent results than it’s predecessor, Live Search. They’ve also added the “Explore” bar on the left that has category links for images, videos, shopping, news, maps, and travel. Microsoft links appear along the top. With the exception of travel, Google provides these same links along the top plus a “more” drop list that includes additional features. As you enter your query in the search box a drop list of possible topics appear anticipating your selection. After you execute your search related topices appear along he left replacing the Explore bar categories which now appear along the top of the page. Bing also provides a convenient summary of each result alone the right side of each listing.
Despite the glamor of Bing’s start page it lacks the easy integration to other features found in Google and Yahoo! While Google’s page is stark by contrast, you are one click away from your mail or other accounts such as Adsense or Adwords. Bing’s MSN and Windows Live links along the top don’t provide the same seamless integration to your other Microsoft applications. Yahoo! on the other hand, provides the best integration of all the features you chose to with your account.
There have been blind studies conducted that indicate Google provides the most satisfactory search results. However, they have been found to include samples biased by anonymous participants. As such we’ll have to wait for an honest assessment. Though I haven’t seen anything that would compel you to start your searches from the Bing page, search results from your Windows Live Hotmail account are now provided by Bing.
