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'Microsoft Should Scrap Bing and Call it Microsoft Search' (cnet.com)
Chris Matyszczyk, writing for CNET: Does anyone really have a deep, abiding respect for the Bing brand? Somehow, if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke. That doesn't mean the service itself is to be derided. It does suggest, though, that the brand name doesn't incite passion or excesses of reverence. The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship. It's gained respect. Especially when the company showed off its Surface Studio in 2016 and made Apple's offerings look decidedly bland. Where once Microsoft was a joke in an Apple ad, now it's a symbol of a resurgent company that's trying new things and sometimes even succeeding. The funny thing about Bing is that it's not an unsuccessful product -- at least not as unsuccessful as some might imagine. Last year, Redmond said it has a 9 percent worldwide search market share, enjoying a 25 percent share in the UK, 18 percent in France and 17 percent in Canada. And look at the US. Microsoft says it has a 33 percent share here. Wouldn't it be reasonable to think that going all the way with Microsoft branding and letting Bing drift into the retirement home for funny names might be a positive move?
While I think the name Bing is SHIT. renaming it to Microsoft Search would only confuse the average user for no benefit whatsoever. What possible benefit do you think they would gain with a rename?
They figured "Microsoft Search" would associate it with something negative, while Bing would be neutral.
Cortana is less silly name that can be taken a bit more seriously, and it's already kind of intertwined with Bing
The main search is ok, but the video search is the best porn congregator there is. Searches everything, hover to preview the video, etc. Microsoft nailed it.
No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
Sometimes, I think it really might be better if we had more credible alternatives to Google. How many times has /. said a monoculture is harmful?
That's what Microsoft (and others) should actually be doing. Improving the search engine rather than messing around with naming schemes.
And ...
I Don't think I want any.
So... they have a user base of people who were pointed at bing at some point but were too illiterate to change their search to something else. Shit, I'd lay money that they probably think they are using google.
Whenever children talk about "Bing " they mean about the bunny.
âoeBixbyâ. Now there is a horrible name IMHO.
As anybody ever said that who didn't work for Microsoft?
bada Bing
Surface Search? Xbox Search?
I don't find the name to be bad. Bing as a search engine has evolved and has been steadily improving to the point that it suffices for 95% of my searches. It clearly has become a viable alternative to those who want to de-google their lives.
Those who deride the name probably have another agenda.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
I have to take issue with basically everything positive said about Microsoft in TFA.
I've been continually losing respect regarding Microsoft's ability to put out a quality product in just about any product space. The only thing I can really say about that isn't totally negative about any of their products is that they haven't made Office (not Office 365) worse.
If I was to look at the number of people who use Bing, I would immediately break them down into two groups:
1) People who's work organizations won't allow them to change any system settings or add any software (including Chrome).
2) People who are too stupid to specify Google as their default search engine.
Cue the ACs that feel that I'm unfairly maligning Microsoft...
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Contrary to what the article says, the Microsoft brand has no value outside of business. You only have to look at the Windows 10 free upgrade fiasco to see what people thing of Microsoft products. Even though Microsoft were trying to give their operating system away for free, people have such a poor perception of Microsoft that many didn't want it. In the consumer space Microsoft's brand is worthless, and a consumer product with Microsoft in the name basically means, "this product will fail and will be abandoned in a few years."
As a verb, Bing better.
Microsoft Should Scrap Bing and Call it Microsoft Search
Scrap it and rename it? Seems a bit wasteful - unless what was meant was "don't scrap it at all."
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
They really missed an opportunity with Edge and Cortana. Edge should have been called "Bada" and Cortana "Boom" Just think of the marketing they could have done with Bada Bing, Bada Boom.
After all, in 'The Island' (2005), set in the year 2019, the 'Information Directory' looks suspiciously like Bing.
Its the same kind of cluttered and portalesque search engine that was MSN and yahoo and all the others. Google went that way so i switched to duck duck go a few years ago due in part to no tracking and its slimed down no nonsense interface. I mean tahts why we all started using google in the first place right?
Google maps on the other hand i do continue to use because openstreetmap just doesn't do it for me personally. Very frequently, typing in part of an address gets me somewhere else in the world entirely. Especially if the street is also a province, or country name. It gets real confused.
So in the end, the right tool that fits you for the right job. What is bings niche market? what was MSN's? making more money for microsoft and because they need "something" to fill a gap. So it doesnt have to succeed, that would just be a bonus.
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Only very tiny or very few things are soft and the rest is hard/jagged/rough/broken? Terrible analogy that seems to imply the company is trying to sell bad things. It would be a better idea to reincorporate the whole company as Bing.
Maybe they can go full circle and rename it to "Windows Live Search". :-)
Have you ever noticed this? B - I - N - G - Bing Is Not Google.
Circumcision is child abuse.
A few days ago here on Slashdot was an article about Google changing the way it handles image searches. Due to a dispute with a commercial entity (Getty Images if I recall correctly), Google was no longer going to serve the full image when you clicked on the thumbnail, just take you to the origin website. It would have made much more sense to just offer content owners a way to opt out of having their images displayed. The Slashdot replies are full of sensible comments and insights.
This weekend, Google made the switch. Now, you can no longer preview an image in Google, not from any source. For me, doing a lot of graphic and imagery intensive work, that was one of Google's most important features. Now suddenly, Google sucks for that purpose. I just tried doing image searches on Bing, and they still work properly, I can see the full image.
Brand loyalty has nothing to do with anything. Getting the job done is everything. So now, when I need to find images, hello Bing, get lost Google. MS should find a way to capitalize on that. Starting with a name change wouldn't be a bad idea.
"The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship. It's gained respect."
No, it hasn't. Microsoft's reputation has tanked hard. It absolutely crashed in the mobile market. Microsoft has no web browser that is at all competitive. People are talking about Alexa, and maybe Siri, but certainly not about Cortana. The overwhelming impression is that they're turning everything they have into spy- and adware. People are talking about switching to Linux if Windows 7 support runs out before Microsoft does an about-face!
The URL can be www.microsoftsearch.com That's convenient. Great idea!
Better known as 318230.
I agree. But then again Matyszczyk doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Using the Microsoft brand directly like that is always risky. If the product isn't absolutely perfect, they risk tarnishing your core brand. And the plain fact is that Bing search is nowhere near as good as Google search.
Several years ago Jimmy Fallon had a promotional agreement with Bing on his show, and talked about it constantly. During an interview with one of his guests, Jimmy said something like "You can just Google for it... Oh! I mean, you can Bing for it". That pretty much sums up how much brand power Bing has.
Microsoft abandoned the "Live" branding in favor of "Bing", and I personally believe this is one of their all time greatest fuckups. Google has the "Play" branding, with "Play Store", "Play Games", "Play Music", "Play Videos" and others. Microsoft's "Live" brand was very similar, and especially with the onset of live streaming that we're seeing, they would have easily had a good and simplistic marketing campaign. Instead, we have Google (YouTube), Facebook (ugh...), and Amazon (Twitch) corning the market currently, with MS not giving fuck all to what could have been the highlight of their business.
... should be something straightforward.
We say "I have googled", but what is the past participle of "to bing", is it "bung"?
Come to think of it -- what is the past and pp of DuckDuckGo -- DuckDuckWent and DuckDuckGone?
that's news to me. it may be stronger, by some twisted and biased metrics; but it's tarnished by an even shittier reputation than when winme or vista were released.
proof that "all publicity is good publicity" (even when you release shitty product after product, broken update after broken update, and ruin acquisition after acquisition)
Chandler would be proud.
It's gained respect.
I mean if T-Mobile can tm magenta and google already considered a verb, then just name it "Search"
Bad idea. Bing is unique and less encumbered by preconceived notions as to what it is.
Many would think Microsoft Search is primarily intended for finding information about Windows, Office 365, etc. Then there's the trust and bias factors to consider. Bing is a more neutral name. Maybe renaming is a good idea, but not to Microsoft Search.
Personally, I find Bing to work well and if Microsoft further improves it, I'll use it more. Many others likely feel the same way. Google results get worse and worse, intentionally to drive page views and ad clicks. Hoping Bing steps up their game.
I cannot agree more with this article. "Bing" as a brand name is the Fisher-Price of search. it makes me think of that 90s-00s trend of showing how "easy" it was to use computers by providing dumbed down interfaces and cute little help characters. "Oh, just BING it! You type in what you want and BING! it appears! It's so easy Grandma!".
Microsoft is an Enterprise company. They should rebrand Bing to "Microsoft 365 Search" and integrate it as part of the Office suite.
Whenever I want to say "google it" I'm trying to halt my words and say "dude, just bing it". Don't take this away from me!
I actually have Bing as my browser's start page though since they have beautiful background images and Google won't know when I start a new browsing session. I don't actually search with Bing though.
" The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship. It's gained respect..."
AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. GOOD ONE!
You do remember Windows 10, right?
The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship. It's gained respect.
That has to be written by a shill. Windows 8 and 10 lost whatever 'respect' they think they had left.
DuckDuckGo uses yahoo which uses bing.
Works for me.
BING means disease in Chinese; as such, I think that MS should just go ahead and completely re-brand their entire business as BING. Can't think of a more fitting name...
BING is up there with Adware or popups with its level of dislike.
Search "Microft" and tell me what you get back. I get page after page of "Microsoft".
Now, what I thought I would get was at least one reference to "Microft" aka Mycroft. Mycroft, or Mike for short, is the AI protagonist in" The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"
When I searched for "computer Moon is a harsh mistress I finally got my *bing*: "His job is to maintain a HOLMES IV-type mainframe computer which Mannie names Mycroft — Mike for short. It talks, scans, prints and calculates."
Microsoft and surface? A failed technology. The gaming thing is marginal value. Bing is right up there too. Better to sell the servers to Google and make some money. Surface was a bust as was the Microsoft phone. Boy did I laugh at that one; pushing it on television show. Didn't work. Reconfiguing the desktop to look like a phone? Stupid; really stupid. How much do they pay for such stupid ideas? Dump something that isn't working. Good business. Focus on what you do best.
Rewriting the underling OS, using something like Unix or Linux would be smart; less complex. You can't image the images I have seen the complexity, in Windows. What a mess. Dare I saw 'trash heap'?
The dictionary definition of bing:
A heap or pile
I want to ask Microsoft, "your search engine is a heaping pile of *what*, exactly?"
Has been slipping lately with their social justice warriors (how did they even get into the company anyway?) and I'm afraid that brand is going to lose value as a result. Therefore, I've set my start page to Bing, and have put up with its crap for some time now. Going to attempt to encourage Microsoft to rise up a bit.
It that 25% of UK and 33% search engine share donâ(TM)t change default windows settings? Wow.
It sucks, a lot of blatant fake news and anti-vax crap is always in my search results. I only know because sometimes I watch my bot as it mines bing search rewards.
Search "Microft" and tell me what you get back. I get page after page of "Microsoft".
Now, what I thought I would get was at least one reference to "Microft" aka Mycroft. Mycroft, or Mike for short, is the AI protagonist in" The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"
When I searched for "computer Moon is a harsh mistress I finally got my *bing*: "His job is to maintain a HOLMES IV-type mainframe computer which Mannie names Mycroft — Mike for short. It talks, scans, prints and calculates."
Mycrapsoft
Stop with the rebranding already!
"Does anyone really have a deep, abiding respect for the Microsoft brand? Somehow, if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke."
FTFY
Make use it.
Some one thought it said BING when it really was supposed to be named BLING.
I bing just to not have to type the word google; Alphatbet should goog themselves if they want this marketshare.
From the TV show, "Friends." Neurotic, whiny, insecure, loser.
Call it anything you want. If it was simple, good, and free, People would use it. Public works shouldn’t be restricted to physical infrastructure.
Bing is not nearly as bad as people pretend it is. That said - Google is still better overall and no one will ever catch up to Google Maps
Bing to me means "Bling". All glitz and no substence.
The search results are poor when compared to Google. No matter how much Lipstick that MS put on it, it is still a pig underneath.
I only search via tools such as Startpage or via DuckDuckGo these days. Cuts down on what both MS and Google knows about you.
You know just rebranding your shit to "Le Shité" doesn't change the fact it's still shit.
And when you can't find what you're looking for then you go to Microsoft ReSearch to try again? And then you go to Google and never come back.
"Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
They should rename it to what it is. Supreme Killer Adds Page that you don't want to look at search page.
That's funny. I associate Microsoft with making professional software. I associate Google with making data sucking scamware.
I don't respond to AC's.
I wonder why Microsoft called their assistant "Cortana" instead of say "Chandler"?
... for you kids who were born too late. A brilliant take on Microsoft's branding genius. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Apparently you've never heard of Windows 10.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
I think they should call it Finder.
Bind can earn our respect by performing exceptionally.
The name is fine, it's no weirder than Google or Yahoo as far as names go.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Their image-search is top-notch and often has more results than google. At least for "obscure" images.
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
No, they should just scarp it entirely.
Feb 19, now 2 or 3 days after Google switched the way they serve images, and guess what.
There are already two extensions at the Chrome store that restore the View Image functionality.
https://chrome.google.com/webs...
https://chrome.google.com/webs...
Actually Bing is a defunct brand of ice cream in my country so the name here is a meme by itself.
I have 2 tweens and a teen in my house, and they say "search it up". They never say "google it". I've done an experiment where I've switched the default search engine on the home computers to Bing and they didn't even notice.