Bing: Reactions from around the web

Microsoft has released its new search engine, which it is referring to as a "decision engine" because it's supposed to help you make decisions. As with all things Microsoft, it warranted strong reactions from around the web. Let's take a look at what some people were saying:

• Forrester analyst, Shar VanBoskirk likes it a lot and writes in her post, Microsoft's Bing Will Change the Face of Search [1], that this search engine is actually designed more for the way people search and she thinks that will be a boon for marketers. 
• David Coursey of PC World is less than impressed, however, in his post, Microsoft Bing Goes Live: So What? [2] He writes, "It is not that I dislike Bing, so much as I just couldn't care less."
• Michael Arrington writes in Tech Crunch that Apparently Bing is Something of a Hit [3] as readers left lots of positive comments about the accuracy of the results and the design of the interface.
• Seth Godin criticizes the Bing ad campaign in his post The Next Google [4]when he says, "Google is not seen as broken by many people, and a hundred million dollars trying to persuade us that it is, is money poorly spent."

Bing doesn't necessarily want to be your go-to engine for everything, but only for what Microsoft thinks you look for most often on the web, and that involves four things: Travel, local search, health and shopping. For travel, health and shopping most people have their favorite sites and there's not much to gain there. Local search could be a winner though, as it provides a way to find information where you live and there is value in that.

The search results frankly remind me of Ask.com with a bit of a different interface. For the last couple of years, Ask.com has given you a set of results with the paid results on top and suggested searches to the the right. Microsoft spins this a bit by putting the suggested searches on the left. It also compiles a search history on screen, which is moderately interesting although it could get unwieldy in a hurry. The images interface is nice in that when you select one it leaves a list of thumbnails on the left side of the screen so you don't have to go back to the main list to choose a different picture.

Overall though, I'm with David Coursey. There's not much to see here that I haven't seen before. Sure, it's repackaged and they're doing a heck of job trying to sell it, but in the end, as Seth Godin points out, most people don't have a problem with Google and they aren't likely to change.

Related Articles:
Microsoft goes 'Bing' [5]
Bing comes marching in [6]
Microsoft goes Bing over search [7]