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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?

111 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:why? by Rockoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      While I think the name Bing is SHIT. renaming it to Microsoft Search would only confuse the average user for no benefit whatsoever.

      Which is my most users call it "DuckDuckGo"

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    2. Re:why? by stephanruby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree about the confusion. Also, let's apply the "Google" test to it.
      "You don't know what this is? Let me bing it for you."
      "You don't know what this is? Let me 'Microsoft Search' it for you."
      The second one doesn't roll off the tongue as much.

      In any case, to say that Microsoft has improved its reputation means that this CNET contributor is either completely out of touch with current reality, or is being paid to shill for Microsoft.

      Personally, I've never hated Microsoft is as much as I do now.

      I hope Microsoft and its lawyers go to hell!

    3. Re:why? by Pseudonym · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And on the other hand, here's a real conversation that I was privileged to observe:

      Alice: "How did people navigate before Google Maps?"
      Bob: "Uh... maps?"
      Alice: "No, I mean before Google Maps."

      There's something to be said for successfully claiming a generic word. Like "Windows".

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    4. Re:why? by stephanruby · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      ...he should have known he was playing with fire by making those pirated discs, even if he did it for a noble purpose.

      No, you didn't read the article carefully enough. Please try again.

      Those were backup disks. They didn't contain a Microsoft key and they couldn't function without a valid Microsoft key.

      For old windows computers, the Microsoft key is located on a sticker on the computer itself. And the backup OS can be downloaded legally and for free from Dell (and other vendors). Then the user just needs to plop the disk in and enter the valid Microsoft key that came with the computer.

      Your comment regarding Linux is well taken, and I like Linux, but if a customer only wants Windows restored on an old machine and already owns a valid license of Windows for that specific machine. Putting Linux on it instead, against the customer's explicit instructions and consent, would only upset the customer and would eventually get your business shut down after you did it to enough people.

      The guy's only mistake is the way he labeled the disks. That was his only mistake. And yes, he should stop doing that, and maybe pay a small fine. But throwing a guy in prison for so long, for such a minor technicality, is overkill and cruel. He provided those disks mostly at cost. He didn't misrepresent what was inside of them. He didn't commit fraud. He didn't steal anything. He didn't pirate anything. He only tried to provide a convenience for his customers.

    5. Re:why? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke

      That's actually true in my case, literally the only time I've heard Bing used is as a joke, "let me bing that for you" (laughter) and then they'll Google it, or DDG it, or whatever. Having your brand exist as a joke means you probably need to fix it.

    6. Re:why? by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

      In any case, to say that Microsoft has improved its reputation means that this CNET contributor is either completely out of touch with current reality, or is being paid to shill for Microsoft.

      Not to mention that their market share figures seem inflated. I can't speak for other countries - but if their share in Canada was as high as 17%, surely I'd know at least one person who uses Bing. I don't. Besides, their OS defaults to Edge or IE, and THOSE default to Bing. So even if their figures were true, that would hardly be an indication of an improved reputation. In fact, it seems rather embarrassing.

      Maybe those figures aren't based on search traffic volume. Maybe they're based on the number of people who use Bing at least once during a year, as a percentage of the total number of search engine users in that year. That's the only way I can see those percentages being anything other than pure fiction.

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    7. Re: why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because saying "let me DuckDuckGo get that for you" isn't a joke?

    8. Re:why? by goose-incarnated · · Score: 2

      if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke

      That's actually true in my case, literally the only time I've heard Bing used is as a joke, "let me bing that for you" (laughter) and then they'll Google it, or DDG it, or whatever. Having your brand exist as a joke means you probably need to fix it.

      Lately google has been less accurate than bing. Anything search starting with "+torrent +magnet ..." gets no relevant results on google but has relevant results on bing.

      I've also noticed with google certain searches silently default to americanised english no matter what is entered, and results using the original keywords are ommitted. "Serialised data objects" gets turned into "Serialized data objects", and pages with the UK spelling are not returned even though they are more relevant than the US-spelling. Bing gets this correct and returns the same results regardless of which spelling is used.

      Lately google search has just not been returning relevant pages while bing has been. It's gotten so bad that I sometimes (like, for torrents) don't even bother trying google first.

      If they don't get their shit together I'm writing my own spider and starting my own damn search engine to find the things I am looking for on the internet.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    9. Re:why? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      If they don't get their shit together I'm writing my own spider and starting my own damn search engine to find the things I am looking for on the internet.

      Too late, someone's beaten you to it.

    10. Re: why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm gonna Bing your mom.
      Idk if it works for a search verb though...
      I do think it has better porn search than Google. Can I get an amen?

    11. Re:why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Time to get smart and think about the 3rd party services that partner with Bing to power their search engines. People you know probably don't navigate to bing in their browser directly, but there is a decent chance that some of them access it indirectly via apps and services.

    12. Re:why? by AC-x · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but we all know how those conversations would really go down :)

      "You don't know what this is? Let me google it with bing for you."
      "You don't know what this is? Let me google it with Microsoft Search for you."

    13. Re:why? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Anything search starting with "+torrent +magnet ..." gets no relevant results on google but has relevant results on bing.

      What country are you in? For me (VPN endpoint in various EU countries) I use Google to search for torrents all the time. I usually don't bother with the + symbol though, just the word "torrent" or "magnet".

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:why? by iampiti · · Score: 1

      Google not returning good results for torrents was probably caused because Google removes those results because it was pressured to do so. Aditionally, the reason it was pressured it's because they became so dominant in search that it almost became synonimous with it. Thus the media conglomerate lawyers and politicians said "we must prevent Google from returning torrent links" while Bing was ignored because they're much smaller in comparison.

    15. Re:why? by ckatko · · Score: 1

      That's not "less accurate" so much as "intentionally removed results"

      You can browse Google DMCAs online.

      https://transparencyreport.goo...

      3 BILLION URLS have been requested removed. You can be damn sure torrent sites are on that list.

    16. Re:why? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Microsoft is the nerdy kid, who doesn't embrace his nerdiness and tries to act cool, without realizing they are missing key components that makes cool kids cool.
      But like Microsoft Bing. after you go down that path it is difficult to go back (often because you had ditched all your nerdy friends)

      Back in the 1990's Microsoft wasn't cool, however it was popular because it was one of the few companies that had what people wanted. After that had changed it was dropped because it was never a product that people wanted to use, but had to use.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    17. Re:why? by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 1

      It may be because Edge/Bing is used anytime a search is run from the Windows search bar, which is probably my biggest gripe about Win 10. I'd use Cortana if it would fire up DDG.

  2. easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They figured "Microsoft Search" would associate it with something negative, while Bing would be neutral.

    1. Re:easy by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Not sure. Always wondered if 'Bing' was not chosen because 1. the domain was free, 2. the domain name was short, 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:easy by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

      ... 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...

      Then they should have called it "Chandler". They could have used that instead of Cortana. Not only would they be differentiating themselves by having a male voice for their assistant, they would also have a single name by which to call all of their assistant's functions, just as Google does.

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    3. Re:easy by jeril · · Score: 1

      I was dubious of Bing because Microsoft appeared not to stand behind their product. It was like they wanted to hide their brand in shame.

    4. Re:easy by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1

      ... 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...

      Then they should have called it "Chandler". They could have used that instead of Cortana. Not only would they be differentiating themselves by having a male voice for their assistant, they would also have a single name by which to call all of their assistant's functions, just as Google does.

      IIRC, male voices are harder to hear over background noise; you have to raise the volume. Female voices (slightly higher pitched than male voices) can be heared at a lower volume.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    5. Re:easy by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      It was orginally MSN Search but they lost too google because they were being massive dicks and loading the pretty much whole first page and often more with irrelevant paid for searches, they just got worse and worse, so loser name, associated with a looser search engine. Lets not kid around B in Bing for Ballmer, it was ego nothing more and nothing less.

      Besides they just can't take it back, NOOOOOOOO else how could I mock them with this, keeping in mind Balmy Ballmer did sell insurace before he conned Gates (so like M$ with Gates and before they become real dicks with Ballmer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re: easy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Bing is a recursive acronym: Bing Is Not Google. BING!

    7. Re:easy by gtall · · Score: 1

      I always thought they wanted something short that people would associate to search like they do Google. Google has 2 syllables, Bing has one. One has to think like a marketdroid.

    8. Re:easy by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      Not sure. Always wondered if 'Bing' was not chosen because 1. the domain was free, 2. the domain name was short, 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...

      It clearly wasn't #3. Noone liked Bing he was the sarcastic, annoying, member of the group... just like the search engine named after him... ahhhh... that's why they called it Bing.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    9. Re: easy by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      Bing is a recursive acronym: Bing Is Not Google. BING!

      I think I have my new pretend fact for upsetting my super-devout linux buddies.

      Bing means "Bing is not GNU"

      figure a fake Gates quote to use with one of those "inspiring quote" images of Bill , and theres an object de art of perfect troll spam

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    10. Re:easy by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Matter of taste. Most fans liked Chandler Biiing

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  3. Why not cortana by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Cortana is less silly name that can be taken a bit more seriously, and it's already kind of intertwined with Bing

    1. Re:Why not cortana by Excelcia · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The whole reason not Cortana and why Microsoft chose Bing is that they envisioned the name of their search being verbed and used by the masses. "Hey how many carbon atoms in a buckyball? One sec, let me Bing it". They did some product placement a few years ago in several shows to prominently display Bing and for characters to actually say "bing it". An episode of Big Bang Theory, and one of Criminal Minds I think. It was actually kind of funny.

      The article is actually rather funny. The whole article is obviously product placement. Microsoft has not approached anything like respect since, well, since they strong armed IBM out of the way and IBM DOS actually became MS DOS.

      I actually do use Bing occasionally, though not directly. I use it because it is the major provider of results for duckduckgo, which I use for the privacy. Duckduckgo does some value added stuff with the results, which I like, but the main search results are unfortunately Bing. It's useful for everyday stuff, but if I ever need to get serious, if it's something marginal or I need it to understand my query as something more than just keywords, then I have to turn to Google. Luckily Duckduckgo knows its search partner is shite and makes it easy to turn to Google by just adding a "!g" to the search terms.

      You know, my experience with Bing is kind of Microsoft in a nutshell nowadays. A necessary evil, maybe even somewhat useful for some things, but something quickly sidelined when possible, definitely sidelined if serious work needs doing.

      They spend more time arranging criminal charges for its customers than innovating. They can call their search whatever they want, no one will use it. Just as the internet moves to heal censorship, it also moves to contain Microsoft.

  4. Bing Video Search is the best porn site by CaseCrash · · Score: 5, Informative

    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."
    1. Re:Bing Video Search is the best porn site by SeaFox · · Score: 2

      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.

      I see what you did there...

    2. Re:Bing Video Search is the best porn site by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      Be that as it may, it doesn't really help them as far as advertising and brand recognition goes. I don't see Microsoft running any Super Bowl ads about their ability to help find porn.

    3. Re: Bing Video Search is the best porn site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Uh huh, well, I don't spend all my time searching for "how to get away with raping" so for all the technical searching I do, which has very little left/right agenda, Google still pwns Bing every time.

      just means you are ignorant. If you are searching for technical content I would put Google dead fucking last. Bing or Duck Duck Go are far more likely to produce clean results.

    4. Re: Bing Video Search is the best porn site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Agree. When I search for technical / programming stuff I use Bing. You get clean results, SERP's that actually reflect your search term and what you actually are looking for. Google delivers extremely doctored results, a combined subset of my history and what google "think" I should find. To make things even worse, Google itself strategically either removes or ignores relevant hits. Try search for something related to AngularJS, almost impossible just to google the docs, the indexes is either removed or deliberately suppressed. Google wants me to use Angular or prevent me and everybody else to go further with AngularJS. Just one example.

    5. Re:Bing Video Search is the best porn site by mykepredko · · Score: 1

      LOL.

      That's been superseded by this week's scandal.

      Maybe it should be "Stormy McDougal" - at least for the next few days.

    6. Re:Bing Video Search is the best porn site by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Microsoft Wank"

    7. Re: Bing Video Search is the best porn site by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      Knowing what little I know of the history and politics, a more likely hypothesis is that Angular wants you to stop using AngularJS and has SEO'd itself to encourage you to do this.

      If Bing returns more AngularJS results, all that proves is that the Angular developers figure nobody interested in their framework uses Bing.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    8. Re:Bing Video Search is the best porn site by russotto · · Score: 1

      So clearly Microsoft should team with Lopez and Marx and call it "Avenue Q".

  5. Not as bad as.... by Hrrrg · · Score: 1

    âoeBixbyâ. Now there is a horrible name IMHO.

    1. Re:Not as bad as.... by Hrrrg · · Score: 1

      should have said "Bixby." That will teach me not to post from my phone.

    2. Re: Not as bad as.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, it's under Settings-> My Phone -> Android

  6. Re:Alternatives to Google by gravewax · · Score: 1

    Microsoft's search engine is actually pretty good and in many scenario's it is better than google. basically you can use either without issue, everyone associates google with search though so you get the automatic bias of choosing them.

  7. I google everything with Bing now. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    bada Bing

  8. Bing is fine by eclectro · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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"
    1. Re:Bing is fine by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Seriously, this. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Altavista, DogPile, Lycos - are *any* of those names anything more than just monikers? Do any of them sound more "professional"? The only one I can think of without searching that did so and sounded like a descriptor was Infoseek.

    2. Re:Bing is fine by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bing works in China. Google is blocked. That should tell you something.

      If you want to de-google then it doesn't make much sense to run to someone just as bad. Try DuckDuckGo or similar perhaps.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Bing is fine by sgage · · Score: 1

      I remember when Google first arrived on the scene. My first thought was "what a stupid name!". Think about it... Google? It made me faintly nauseous. I'm not sure Bing is any worse.

      In any case, with Google's success it became cool to have double-oh's in your software's stupid-ass, nonsense, meaningless names, as if some SuccessMagic would rub off of Google: Ooyala, Joomla, Moodle, Hadoop, and on and on. I have taken a vow never to use any software with 'oo' in its name. Including Google.

    4. Re:Bing is fine by Pikoro · · Score: 1

      I think you're talking about googol (googolplex). The name google was an unintentional misspelling of googol.

      --
      "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    5. Re: Bing is fine by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It means that Microsoft is willing to share data with the Chinese government, and to implement their filters (you can't turn safe search off). As you allude to, Microsoft knows that this information is used for oppression.

      Google has a lot more to lose as well. All the Android phones in China have the Google services removed because they don't work, and replaced with local ones like Baidu. Microsoft's mobile OS is dead anyway.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Bing is fine by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

      Wrong type of word. Bing sounds like you're hitting something. Need to copy a paper? You Xerox it. Need to look something up - google it. If they were looking for a word like google, it would have to be along those lines, not striking something.
      Something like kiddle, Micro, gulam, something like that.
      Funny, Google actually has a kiddle. Picture search for kids. I was looking it up to see if it was out there.

  9. Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by mykepredko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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...

    1. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Have to agree. There's not a lot of positive images with the Microsoft brand name. The brand name most definitely has not improved under new leadership. I think this CNET guy has drunk too much kool-aid.

    2. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I use Bing on some of my computers, purely because it's not Google. None of my systems uses Google as the default search engine. Google is not that far ahead anymore. The alternatives are useful.

    3. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Given your lack of a user number, who the hell should listen to your opinion?

    4. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      From the article: "The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship"

      I laugh, because the *hate* I've experienced from ordinary users when they talk about Windows 10 is on a whole new level. People are desperate to stay with Windows 7 if they can. Microsoft does have a generally positive impression among regular users, but it's been undermined ever since they started tricking people into win10 upgrades, having restart-requiring updates in the middle of work with poor control over the process, and forced upgrades that often break drivers (a friend's machine has had the touchpad driver break 3 times so far). Then there's all the telemetry and the fact that most people find Cortana about as useful as Clippy, and MS removed the ability to revert to regular search without fiddling with the registry (it used to be a simple switch). The whole thing is a reliability and usability fiasco compared to prior Windows versions.

      You are not unfairly maligning Microsoft. Even their core product has significant flaws.

    5. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by unity · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Besides the fact that I greatly prefer Bing to Google for the results it returns, I'll add another:

      3. People that use bing because it pays them. With the Bing rewards points for simply using it, I rack up enough to get at least $5 gift card a month and sometimes 2. Yes, I'm a penny pinching cheap S.O.B. and one of these days I'm gonna win one of their sweepstakes as well.

    6. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by Gavagai80 · · Score: 2

      It's worth noting that most of the people who do bing rewards (which incidentally did switch to the microsoft rewards brand recently) are using google for all their real searches, and are just mashing the keyboard into bing. I know that's what I do. And that can account for potentially the majority of bing searches since they incentivise far more searches than a normal person would perform in a day. Bing's market share is people who mash their keyboards for money, and then go do all their legit searches via google.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    7. Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I tired to find out what I can spend these Microsoft Reward Points on. Unfortunately the front page of their web site is information-free and the more info link (https://rewards.microsoft.com/explore/error?page=ms-rewards-faq) is down.

      Seems like you can only spend it on XBOX stuff, and I don't have any of that. Can I get free Microsoft products like Windows with it?

      And is it compatible with random fake search generator add-ons?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  10. Binging sounds cooler than Googling by databasecowgirl · · Score: 1

    As a verb, Bing better.

  11. That's not scrapping, then by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    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.
    1. Re:That's not scrapping, then by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      If they are planning to scrap it, they could rename it to anything. I vote for fartscrabbler.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    2. Re:That's not scrapping, then by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      Have you fartscrabbled that to make sure someone isn't using it already?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  12. Missed opportunity by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Missed opportunity by mykepredko · · Score: 1

      Fuggeddaboutit
      - Edward "Greasy Wheel" Cordinani Esq. Representing one Anthony Soprano

  13. Why not call it the 'Information Directory' by najajomo · · Score: 1

    After all, in 'The Island' (2005), set in the year 2019, the 'Information Directory' looks suspiciously like Bing.

  14. its just msn by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    -
    1. Re:its just msn by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      I mean tahts why we all started using google in the first place right?

      Altavista started that trend.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:its just msn by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      slimed down no nonsense interface. I mean tahts why we all started using google in the first place right?

      People like me switched to Google because it worked better than anything else out there. The clean interface was just a bonus. Do you remember how crappy most search engines were back then?

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    3. Re: its just msn by pope1 · · Score: 2

      Altavista was still the best search engine available at the time google was released. For the amount of conent, and lack of barriers to that content. Also, the search operators available. Being able to force the inclusion of a specific phrase or keyword while simultaneously excluding another, was revolutionary for search in the late 90's. Google's own search operators eventually surpassed Altavistas, and the amount of content they had indexed. For a while I went between the two as they produced wildy different results on the same search string. Results
      these days seem so filtered, and you know the top results are paid for, even the so-called 'organic' results are endlessly gamed using botnets and for-pay services. I feel like search is ripe for a new revolution, and I can't wait to see who delivers the best alternative to the pay-to-win mess we have now.

      --
      /* * pope1 */
    4. Re: its just msn by gitano_dbs · · Score: 1

      +-host:
      +-domain:
      +-link:
      +-url:
      title:
      image:

      Altavista search was really good for their times.

    5. Re: its just msn by pope1 · · Score: 1

      I wrote this 17 years ago:

      https://web.archive.org/web/20040301010936/http://darkaxis.com:80/devel/c/network/http/deepweb/deepweb.c

      Got me in trouble with the Naval Surface Warfare center... it seems they had some sensitive stuff out on port 80 back then.. and I hit it at random.

      Anyhow, I wish I would have kept going and developed it into a full fledged spider. There is so much content that never sees the light of day because it's not linked to a site with a high enough "page rank" for it to be deemed worth while. With the coming proliferation of cheap massive SSD's, it would be fun to revisit it. I had a dedicated T1 in my home at the time I was researching, so there was little fear of retribution from my "ISP", because they were also my employer, and this was the kind of thing I was expected to be proficient in. These days, I wonder how long you can run a spider from a residential connection before they terminate your access, lol.

      --
      /* * pope1 */
  15. Bing is a recursive acronym by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have you ever noticed this? B - I - N - G - Bing Is Not Google.

    1. Re:Bing is a recursive acronym by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      It's not an acronym. Microsoft would never be that clever. It was named after a strip club in a TV show that Microsoft executives liked. That's more Microsoft's style.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:Bing is a recursive acronym by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Have you ever noticed this? B - I - N - G - Bing Is Not Google.

      It's also a marketing fail. You know what is really good at getting people to stop using their favorite search engine? Reinforcing that you're not the same.

    3. Re:Bing is a recursive acronym by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      No, but *nice*. I shall use that in the future. Thanks.

  16. Bing still serves pictures - score one for MS. by az-saguaro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Bing still serves pictures - score one for MS. by Known+Nutter · · Score: 2

      Click on thumbnail, right click image, Open Image in New Tab / Window...

      Problem solved, 1 extra click.

      --
      Beware of the Leopard.
    2. Re:Bing still serves pictures - score one for MS. by az-saguaro · · Score: 1

      Works, thanks very much.

    3. Re:Bing still serves pictures - score one for MS. by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      You can still drag and drop an image to search by it.

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      This space intentionally left blank
    4. Re:Bing still serves pictures - score one for MS. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      One other area where the Bing image search is slightly superior is that you can search for more kinds of licence than on Google. Google is just free / not free, but Bing lets you select two types of Creative Commons, Public domain and a variety of others.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  17. Great idea! by Dan+East · · Score: 1

    The URL can be www.microsoftsearch.com That's convenient. Great idea!

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  18. Pot, meet kettle by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    While I think the name Bing is SHIT.

    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."
  19. Re: Alternatives to Google by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

    I set my search to Bing over a year ago. Results strike me as more useful than Google and I find DDGo is inferior to both.

  20. "Live" by darkain · · Score: 2

    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.

    1. Re:"Live" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      one of their all time greatest fuckups

      I dunno man, the competition is pretty strong.

      - Windows ME
      - Windows Vista
      - Zune
      - Plays For Sure (except on Zune)
      - ActiveX
      - Windows firewall defaults to off
      - XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death
      - MICROS~1

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  21. Whatever they do, the past participle by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 1

    ... 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?

    1. Re:Whatever they do, the past participle by Zaelath · · Score: 1

      I keep thinking when someone says "I binged that TV show" that they searched for it on Bing...

    2. Re:Whatever they do, the past participle by sgage · · Score: 1

      DuckDuckShallHaveGone.

  22. Re:Marketing at work by doom · · Score: 1

    And fresh from that success, it's time to for the linux distros to go after mobile users. I'm sure Google will make easier pickings than Microsoft.

    (Wouldn't it be cool, if someone, anyone ever paid a price for failure? Like wouldn't it be great if the "designers" who repeatedly screwed up gnome, KDE (and oh, maybe firefox?) were never let near a computer again?)

  23. why not call it "search" by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 1

    I mean if T-Mobile can tm magenta and google already considered a verb, then just name it "Search"

    1. Re:why not call it "search" by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Too late, CBS owns https://www.search.com/

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      This space intentionally left blank
  24. Many may think Microsoft Search is Windows Help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  25. Who cares? Just use Bing via DDG by shm · · Score: 1

    DuckDuckGo uses yahoo which uses bing.

    Works for me.

  26. Bing sucks by Smiddi · · Score: 1

    BING is up there with Adware or popups with its level of dislike.

    1. Re:Bing sucks by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I was about to post this exact same link. For me it's the main reason I can't take the name "Bing" seriously.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  27. Re:microsoft's brand is stronger today? by sgage · · Score: 2

    If corporations worried less about their "brand", and more about their products, we'd all be better off.

  28. Re:What fucking respect? by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

    I interpreted it as a backhanded compliment.

    Remember that even Windows 10 was mostly done on Ballmer's watch, even though it was released on Nadella's watch. After Ballmer, Microsoft couldn't exactly fall much further in everyone's estimation...

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  29. Dictionary by raymorris · · Score: 1

    The dictionary definition of bing:
    A heap or pile

    I want to ask Microsoft, "your search engine is a heaping pile of *what*, exactly?"

  30. It won't... by midifarm · · Score: 1

    Make use it.

  31. Polish a turd by kbg · · Score: 1

    You know just rebranding your shit to "Le Shité" doesn't change the fact it's still shit.

  32. And when you can't find what you're looking for by iTrawl · · Score: 1

    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
  33. Re: Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad by DogDude · · Score: 1

    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.
  34. I suppose it's time to resurface this ... by yelvington · · Score: 1

    ... for you kids who were born too late. A brilliant take on Microsoft's branding genius. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  35. Re: Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    Apparently you've never heard of Windows 10.

  36. You have to earn respect by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    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
  37. Re:What fucking respect? by Etcetera · · Score: 1

    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.

    The anti-Windows 10 cauterwauling is mostly a Slashdot and niche thing. While Metro and Windows 8 had *major* issues, Windows 10 is doing quite well and is actually a pretty stable OS. It's probably my favorite experience I've had with Windows and reliability since back in the Win2kPro days.

    Of course, tech users aren't the hugest drivers... Although important, it's really "consumer" mindshare that would be the determining factor. Anecdotally, non-techies seem to appreciate and be aware of "Microsoft" more than they have been, especially as Apple's stumbling on the computer side (with expensive options) has led to exploration of options.

    "Bing" works as something to type into the address bar, but I can't say it's great as a brand. +1 to the article. "Microsoft Search" seems good enough. (And competition at the oligarchy level for Google is at least better than an effective monopoly.)

  38. I'd rather use yandex by rainer_d · · Score: 1

    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
  39. Re:Bing still serves pictures - Update by az-saguaro · · Score: 1

    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...

  40. "Google it" is dying by WeirdKid · · Score: 1

    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.