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