Ever 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.

Bing was fomenting for a long time in Microsofts backyard and came out front after Microsofts ambitious takeover of Powersoft with its semantic search systems. Bing put those skills to good use with its results turning out pretty much, as accurate as Google on certain sets of keywords such as Paris Hilton or Arnold Schwarzenegger with an xRank feature indicating their popularity, But Bing does turn out some wonderfully vague results with more complex questions like I think Im going to die something Google avoids by bringing up links to self help pages.

The explorer section which opens in the left pane after each search query gives a list of related searches tied to the keyword, using Microsoft’s last year acquisition, Powersets semantic technology. But it only recognizes the most popular or a certain Binged list of keywords and turns them out on top. Searches with keywords like, I hate puppies turned out absolutely no related searches, while Michael Jackson was a search favorite with an incredibly detailed list of his videos, songs and more.

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.

Bing continues Lives tradition in offering the Cashback scheme to users who shop using Bing and returns a portion of the purchase made if a sale is confirmed. The shopping experience is also a lot better, due to a plethora of user and expert reviews offered along with a list of similar brands to compare prices with. However accessing these features requires a bit of digging in and is not easy for new users to be familiar with.

Bing certainly seems to be an ambitious project for Microsoft. The Beta is already available internationally, since 1st June and 60 engineers are currently working overtime to suit Bing up to public tastes and keyboards. Microsoft it seems is leaving no stone unturned in persuading the masses to Bang out Google with a Bing!

Tags: Corporations, Domain Names, html, internet, Internet Marketing, Kumo, msn bing, Search Engine, website

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Posted in Internet Marketing by Marcus Worthon No Comments Yet