Good things in Bing: the easier than pulling hens teeth edition


Microsoft’s new search engine Bing continues to make headlines, and not for all the right reasons.

I was disappointed by the results when I first wrote about it on Monday, and that hasn’t changed; I still can’t replicate the results in the Bing demo video, and there’s no reason why that should be the case. Moving beyond the fraud of the demo video, there is some nice features in Bing that are worthy of noting.

Image results

Bing offers a never ending stream of image results. To explain that some more, you don’t have to page between results, and images continue to load as you scroll down the page. It’s a small thing, but if you’re looking for an image, it speeds up your ability to find an image you’re looking for vs Google where you have to go from page to page.

The image results aren’t bad either, and the related search terms offered make it easier to break down what you are looking for. Of course image search isn’t exactly a feature that is going to be a killer tool, but it’s nice to see that Microsoft has put some thought into it.

Video/ porn

Bing has been getting a lot of attention over porn, in particular video porn. The key difference between Bing and Google is that you can play a snippet of a video by rolling over the results…and that’s all. Both search engines allow video to be played in full inline (where available), and ultimately that’s the key feature from both.

As for making porn discovery easier (as a number of MSM outlets have suggested) I can only say: why don’t you check Google before making such stupid statements. Both Bing and Google deliver ample porn when filters are turned off, and Bing isn’t different at all to Google in that regard.

However, there seems to be a slight difference in the results. Both show porn, but Bing has a bias towards hard core porn sites over more mainstream video sharing sites. The first page of a search for “porn” in Bing offers a number of porn sites, and the second even more. Google by contrast offers results primarily from YouTube and Google Video. Notably Bing seems to completely ignore Google owned sites in its results. Ultimately though it’s a small difference, and the results really aren’t that much different, after all, you get tits and arse from both.

Maps

Google has become the default site for many looking for directions, but Bing competes well. Taking up the mapping from Live before it, Bing offers a “birds eye” view which is unique. Although I couldn’t get it to work, there’s also a 3D view which I’m guessing may show 3D modeling where available. Bing doesn’t have StreetView, and that’s always going to be a limitation, but it’s mapping features are smart, have depth (particularly vs Yahoo) and offer a strong alternative.

Conclusion

I still feel deceived by the demo video, however there are some things to like in Bing, and it’s easier to find the positives than pulling hens teeth.

Bing could find an audience with its reasonable video and image search, although ultimately the other parts need to improve so as to offer a better one stop location. Think of Bing as an evolutionary step for Microsoft, as opposed to being something revolutionary.

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