For a change Microsoft gets it right with Bing. Bing clearly wins over Google on the following counts:
1. Visual Appeal- reminiscent of Ask.com’s earlier avatar.
2. Speed – it’s just as fast as google.
3. Clean categorization of ‘Related searches’, using Powerset’s technology (I presume)
4. A preview feature that helps you read content from the target site before clicking.
5. An overall philosophy focused on getting as much of the information you need from the search engine itself before actually clicking and going to a site, thereby making it a decision engine.
6. A spectacularly clean integration of Travel and Shopping into the search engine in a manner never seen before, including the special Bing Cashback discounts that you can avail by clicking through and buying products via Bing search results. (This feature is available on the US version of the site.)
7. Finally, Bing looks like it was designed for ‘real’ users, while in retrospect Google looks like it was designed more for geeks than regular users.
In short, Microsoft has surprisingly achieved the next frontier in search. Google may well outdo it in the future, but Microsoft has set the agenda for sure.
1. Visual Appeal- reminiscent of Ask.com’s earlier avatar.
2. Speed – it’s just as fast as google.
3. Clean categorization of ‘Related searches’, using Powerset’s technology (I presume)
4. A preview feature that helps you read content from the target site before clicking.
5. An overall philosophy focused on getting as much of the information you need from the search engine itself before actually clicking and going to a site, thereby making it a decision engine.
6. A spectacularly clean integration of Travel and Shopping into the search engine in a manner never seen before, including the special Bing Cashback discounts that you can avail by clicking through and buying products via Bing search results. (This feature is available on the US version of the site.)
7. Finally, Bing looks like it was designed for ‘real’ users, while in retrospect Google looks like it was designed more for geeks than regular users.
In short, Microsoft has surprisingly achieved the next frontier in search. Google may well outdo it in the future, but Microsoft has set the agenda for sure.
