As predicted Bing, the search engine that Microsoft hopes will topple Google off its lofty perch, is real and has just been launched in beta mode in the UK. Furthermore it’ll be rolled out worldwide over the next couple of days, with a full launch scheduled for 3 June.
Microsoft Bing, which can be found at www.bing.com and is replacing Microsoft Live Search, is being rolled out in beta mode across the UK and will contain a number of innovative new features, including a new layout which includes highlights such as Best Match (a facility that identifies the best result for popular queries) and Instant Answer (which provides quick results in the body of the first search results page).
Microsoft has also said that Bing will provide “more functionality in key consumer areas including shopping, local search and travel, leading to faster, more informed decisions.”
There are also a host of improvements and updates planned already, with Web Groups (a visually intuitive presentation which enables people to quickly get from knowledge to action) and Quick Tabs (a contents table for categories of Search results) promised in the near future.
Microsoft also announced the integration of Ciao – the shopping and comparison website – into Bing and MSN. Microsoft bought Ciao in 2008. As you can see from the image, the homepage is a big contrast to Google’s sparse look, with a big image that changes daily in the background. Whether all these elements will turn Bing into the Google-beater it wants to be remains to be seen.
The only people using Bing (stupid name)will be hardcore windows fans – are there even any left!? It’s not much of a challengle to Google which has a market share of 72%? Perhaps it’s the same guy who thought the zune player could take on the iPod!? They should stick to what they know… ehhh… whatever that is