A Review Of MSN Bing
Friday, September 11th, 2009Ever since codename Kumo, was revealed as Microsoft’s latest search, sorry decision making engine, netizens everywhere have been curious to find out if Google has finally found a worthy competitor, in the sonorously worded Bing. Tongues started rolling ever since Microsoft acquired Powerset in July last year and the predictions have come true as Bing utilizes Powersets semantics driven search engine to give more intuitive search results.
The interface has certainly improved with lesser cluttered and easily lined search categories (Images, Videos, Shopping, News, Maps, and More) over the search bar. Bing also lets you enter your queries without wasting any time loading the image.
The explorer pane on the right side provides handy links to search categories, if any while a pop up window allows a sneak peek at the site contents before you open it. Bing also remembers your search history and displays similar search queries as you type, however this feature can be turned off to avoid potential embarrassment (a lesson for Google here!). This Check-in-Bing facility is also extended to Video results with excerpts of each video played within Bing itself. Images can also be easily found with a point by point search for size, shape or the presence of people and zoomed in for a better look with links to similar images as well.
Images and video searches have definitely improved over Live, with image searches yielding pop-up thumbnails, offering links to similar images. The biggest improvement however, is the Video search functionality which allows you to play videos inside the search engine with a simple mouse hover. The video search however, has the drawback of playing any videos that the search brings up. Disabling the safe search feature allows instant access to thousands of porn videos, which play in the browser, making Microsoft’s attempt to make Bing popular, a little under handed.
Using Bing Travel, you can actually find which airlines are cheaper and whether the prices would rise or fall. Shopping is a pleasure with user and expert reviews for every listing and every listing being a product itself with a Microsoft Cashback scheme in place, guaranteeing you with a discount on purchases made through Bing Shopping.
News is an area where Google wins hands down. Bing offers to break down searches into Location and Category, however Time tagged searches would have been much more powerful and would have given Bing a much more editorial feel Bing is Microsofts big splash into the heavily indexed market of information, which has been run by Google, for too long. Bing should offer Google some competition and force Google to improve its standards, which seem to be slipping these days. Though it is tough to wean away determined Googlers- keep an eye out for Bing
For more on information on MSN Bing, please visit the preceding website. Also, if you did not know, MSN Bing is a great opportunity for those affiliated with Clickbank. Learn to how the power of search and buying together.
