Do You Bing?

August 7, 2010 | By WenWP

After reading over 5 articles from this past week, it seems Bing is leading Google in innovation and integration and I want to know if you Bing. NewYorkTimes said it themselves, Bing is pretty much leading now and Google is following. Zdnet has shown us that Google Goggles is very nice, but Bing’s version is better. Engadget even posted a video that Microsoft made explaining why their Street slide is better than Google’s street view. Lastly Realwire has found that Google has twice as much Malware than Bing, Yahoo! and Twitter Combined.

Now with all this in plain view… Do you Bing?

Bing has many things that makes it special, and two months ago I was have been very unhappy knowing that Bing was the default search engine (not a surprise) for Windows Phone 7. In anticipation of this, I began using Bing more often to get accustomed to it, and now with all these articles pretty much pronouncing Bing as the better choice, I am happy with Microsoft’s child. Another reason why I used Bing was because of their great cashback program that saved me over $300 to date, but sadly that is over.

With all this in mind… Do you Bing? If not, are you willing to change? Comment below.

About Wen M

Working for WMPU is awesome. Love to write personal articles, and I do it very often. I am the reviewing editor (self appointed), so you will see alot of reviews and giveaways from me. I own quite a few devices not just Windows Phone but Android and others. I live in Minnesota, USA and love traveling to other places.

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efjay

I bing exclusively, at work, at home and on my phone. I ditched google even before bing was released and with their continued improvements I dont see myself ever using google again.
http://www.martinschmidler.com martinschmidler

I use it from time to time and it absolutely depends on wether I'm stressed or not. If I am in a hurry I use Google, because I know I will likely find what I'm looking for.

But then there are times when I feel like increasing Bing's marketshare (nerdy, isn't it?) and use Bing. I noticed at work (where I have to use IE8) the browser sometimes doesn't recognize an adress (although it's correct) and redirects me to Bing.
Does anyone encounter this "issue" as well?

http://www.facebook.com/J88NYR Jonny 'Sandface' Rose

Interesting I usually end up using bing when googles pissed me off because I cant find what I want, and what I want is usually on the first half of the first page of the search on bing.

http://www.martinschmidler.com martinschmidler

Yeah, sometimes I get crappy results with Google as well. Happens rather seldom though.

Edwin

I bing all the time. I begin to use Bing because the nice picture they put in their homepage everyday.
Foamy

I switched to bing a while ago and i rarely have to use google now. the main missing feature from bing is the calculation support and currency conversion but for everything else it's much better.

efjay

Try typing your desired currency conversion or calculation into the bing search bar and it will give you the results right thelre.
Lennard

what calculation support in bing missing? you can even do quadratic equations in bing search. dont' know if it's in google cause I don't use it. they should make a "calculator' page bing.

Jamie

I was using both for a while but even I will admit that Bing has surpassed Google and they didn't do it with just search. They added many other intangibles. But for a long time Google news beat the crap out of Bing news. Well no more. Google did some silly customization work and Bing did something, and the result – Bing news is beating the crap out of Google news.

Never thought the day would come when Bing will be better than Google. I don't know what's happening over there at Microsoft. They got me salivating over WP7 too
GP007

Since I use some of the live services and have hotmail, I also use bing as well. It's been getting better and better, a few days ago I did a few searches on bing and google and the resaults matched up pretty close on the first page.

I also get a laugh outta seeing google coping bings look more and more.
http://www.facebook.com/Bugblatter Bug Blatter

I tried Bing after the re-launch. The results were very poor so I stopped. However Google's results are far poorer than they were when it launched.

Unfortunately Google has had a profoundly negative effect on the web. The websites I work on have been written for Google first and people second. We try to find a balance, but in the end if it'll improve our rankings we'll generally do it. The logic is that we're not helping anyone if they don't find the site in the first place, and of course the money factor.

Most commercial sites are the way they are because of Google's algorithms. If Google's dominance fades I'm not sure if that will improve things or if we'll just end up having to write the site for Bing first, Google second and people third.

http://www.martinschmidler.com martinschmidler

You're absolutely right.

dudu

I bing a lot, i think there no differences between bing and google regarding web result. But bing is more eye candy and innovative.
chinch

Bing should be most "normal people's" default search because it gives real results not just millions of links (ie. google).

Bing also substitutes/replaces site search saving tons of time.

For example search "target chicago il" and you get the store locations without having to surf a crummy site & doing 10 more steps.

The only thing google has better is deep search for obscure references (ie. part numbers of yesteryear) and also limiting search to "last week". Bing might have search criteria by time but i haven't found it.

Bing shopping will now DRAMATICALLY improve as vendors are not restricted by cashback policies.

So firefox users benefit from adding a bing search bar, probably keeping it the default with one click access to google search if results fail.
http://twitter.com/peterpulmonary1 @peterpulmonary1

i bing exclusively
found it binggg!!
TekDragon

I was about 50/50 between Google and Live Search, but ever since Bing launched it's pretty much all I use. Every once in a great while I'll use Google, but I just don't trust Google.
Michael

I Bing when Google won't do (mostly for images). I find Bing a little ghastly at the moment (not a fan of the blue and orange, nor the faded image at the top of the screen), but I wouldn't mind switching in the future if it gets better, and I do love the endlessly scrolling Bing Images (before Google copied it) and this new Street Slide concept.
mbcls

No, I don't use bing. I really hated bing (wm), it only lists a FEW movie theaters in my area. On the old Live Search, it lists 30 theaters near my area! This is how desperate microsoft is, trying to force people to use bing! They won't even let you use old Live Search anymore, it will pop-up a message and said updated bing is avail, and live search then freezed/locked up.

TekDragon

I don't think the article is about the Bing app. That being said, I know what you mean about the movie stuff. It has definitely gone backwards since the previous version. I hope they will either go back to the previous versions functionality around movies or they fix the current version for WP7

UK owe

asking people if they bing on a microsoftie website?

http://www.martinschmidler.com martinschmidler

You know, there are _normal_ people besides all the fanboys… for instance Paul Thurrott, who writes exclusivly about Microsoft, uses an iPhone and Gmail. Why shouldn't he? Only using products from one company is STUPID and most people are aware of that.

Wen(WM)

Exactly my friend. If you only use one kind of product, then you find yourself incredible bias, and at the end… Unable to give good advice.
I use many different things that I am not suppose to:
Droid,
Symbian,
iPhone 4(for 2 weeks).
And that allows me to have a broader view on things.

Picklefart

I use bing 99.9% of the time now. The times I don't are usually when I type in the search bar of a browser and it's not set to the default. Otherwise I use bing.
Grant Leader

Let's all be honest here. Hardly anyone uses Bing. The stats show that, so let's not pretend otherwise.

Lennard

which explain why marketshare is going up right? jeez, some people can be silly

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000801575953 Simon van der Pol

I Bing, and I live it!
majg

Removed Google from my life last summer… haven't looked back. A company that indexes the vast majority of the world's data has too much control imo. Couple that with a company that makes 95% of it's money via profiling you to sell it to the highest bidder in the form of ads can't be a good thing in this day an age. Plus, the relapses in privacy controls and add the pompeous "Do No Evil" moniker… bleck….

So, yeah… I Bing and sometimes I Yahoo.
GAM3R

I dislike Bing, it is nothing special… there is no popular from yesterday, today, and even tomorrow…
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/2349/whatemail… this firm what it tell you?

Jake

How surprising.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=646490523 David Talbert

I bing and it is way better than Google. I have made it is the default search engine on all the computers at work with no complaints. If people want to use Google they can type it in. Google gives me loads of useless results. Bing is the future!
Fatson

I also use Bing exclusively. Even my wife likes it because of aggregated data you can glean: social, shopping, plane tickets, etc. Google was a great homepage back in the day when bandwidth was an issue. Now, with most people on broadband, you can have a visually appealing homepage with informational links that keeps it interesting. I check the homepage daily just to see what the image of the day is. I like Bing's inovations and I think it's great that Google has the appearance of trying to play catch up. I've moved all my web-based servcies to Live in prepartion for Windows Phone 7, too. Microsoft is finally getting off their asses and showing what they can do. Competition really put a fire under their but.
mbcls

microsoft must be paying people and the media to say that Bing is better than google!
see for yourself!!!!!
go to google.com and search Dell lighting spec, you get a TON of results of Dell wp7 phone!
go to bing.com and search Dell lighting spec, you get NOTHING, NADA, on Dell wp7 phone!

Mikkkybukky

i just did and i got almost the same result on Bing if not better
http://www.facebook.com/J88NYR Jonny 'Sandface' Rose

Maybe if you try searching Bing.com for Dell lightNing spec, you get loads… LOL! you might want to double check stuff before you make a fool of yourself.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=Dell+lightning+spec&…

Seb

This does bring a good point though, when typing Dell lighting spec with a typo in google, google detects it and seaches for Dell lightning spec, while bing doesn't even suggest the correct result.

Personally, I've tried bing once or twice, and I still prefer google for now, but after seeing all these comments, I'll check it again, hopefully it's not just fanboy biased comments :p .

chinch

LIGHTING

ROTFLMAO

the constant stream of stupiditiy that people exhibit online

mbcls

fool! i like to call it LIGHTING! HAHA, and google know what i talking about, does Bing know? haha
also, i call the Dell Steak (instead of Streak), cus it freaking weight the same as 8oz Steak!
also, i call BM instead of BWM!

dropqube

I'd love to use bing more than I do now.
Sadly it's still in beta in Germany, I hope they switch over to the full experience when WP7 is released here
Until now I use google most of the time since am pretty much used to it. I compared search results and sadly most of the time Google still worked better for me.

For specialised stuff like weather and other infos Bing is MUCH better than Google – definitely!

SteveJ

you can set your location to usa to get better results… i live in switzerland and did the same, now i barely use google anymore

chinch

LIGHTING

ROTFLMAO

the constant stream of stupiditiy that people exhibit online
loyates

Oh yes, I Bing; and, I never Googled. I left AltaVista for Bing. Disclaimer – I have a gmail address and used Google maps; but no longer. For seach it was never Google. Now it is Bing and nothing else. Bing maps is excellent. I just wish there was a way to easily transfer my saved Google maps to Bing maps. Well, maybe there is and I just don't know about it.
blkballoon925

I have Binged on the desktop for the past year, and finally switched the phone from Google this week. World's better. That's all I can say.
Mark

Bing is my default search engine because everything "new" in Google is copy from Bing.
GearSecond

In the past few months I have started using Bing over Google. Some of the changes took a little getting used to but overall I'm pretty happy with Bing now.
Northerngeek

Starbux? Oh you mean Starbucks.

Fine then Google has a better auto-correct feature… some people aren't as prone to spelling errors.
wtfman

So you're retarded and you want a search engine to fix that for you?

mbcls

yes, and i also want a Mercedes E, CLS, or S class that fix everything for me! (keyless go, pre-safe, auto-park, lane assist, etc). have fun with your old peice of junk that doesnt do much for you! haha
mbcls

So you a loser just pretending to be smart?
if you so smart, why are you not in the Spelling Bee competitions? haha

Fdo35

I use Bing.
hvakrg

I use Bing as my main search engine and have been for a while. I have no problem admiting that Google still has en edge when it comes to "raw data" but I mostly find what I need, and if I don't I just pop over to Google and search there.

Google has had many years with 90%+ of the searches to refine their algoritms and I have no doubt that Bing will catch up over time, especially when Yahoo changes over, that'll give Microsoft a 35% marketshare and that will give them alot more searches to work with aswell as more money from advertisments.

The future of search is "Consumer Search" and Bing is by far the best searchengine when it comes to that, Google is a last generation search engine and will have to play catch up with Bing.

Studies say that people prefer Bings layout and services better then Google, and that they're about the same on search results, but people are so used to using Google that they need more to switch over.

hvakrg

Another thing I'd like to add is Bing Maps. Microsoft is kicking Googles ass here aswell, technologically they're simply superior.

Parrotlover77

Bing's value-added services (maps, shopping, etc.) are better than google IMHO, but I still find that I get better search results from Google. This especially true when I'm searching for information to diagnose some really obscure error I'm getting in my daily life as a sys admin.

I don't know what it is about Google's secret searching sauce, but it just seems to know exactly what I'm looking for.

That's not to say Bing's searches aren't good. Sometimes when I can't find what I'm looking for on Google, Bing comes to the rescue. But this is usually not the case.

I think over time Bing could supplant Google as my primary search engine, but that's not yet the case.
Awillys

I switched to bing few months ago and never returned back to Google.
it was difficult at first as i was just too used t type Google.com but that habit as ended now and i find myself automatically typing Bing.com when i need info.

I am also a boig fan of Bing Maps especially the beta version at bing.com/maps/explore/ I love the apps they have etc…
Michael Aus.

Results for Bing in Australia are pretty lame. I liked some aspects of the search engine, but the package of integrated search and localisation doesn't seem to work well. Google knows my local restaurants and cinemas, Bing doesn't. MS seem to have spent a lot of time perfecting their product for the US market.

This isn't a problem on the PC as I can change my engine – but they are releasing Windows Phone 7 world wide in just a few months with Bing as your only option. I won't by a WP7 until I have seen Bing working in Australia.
Pablo

"For example search "target chicago il" and you get the store locations without having to surf a crummy site & doing 10"

So does Google. Examples like this make me wonder if anybody here can objectively quantify their preferences.

I've used http://www.bing-vs-google.com/ of and on, to do side-by-side comparisons, and I've seldom seen a case where Bing provided me better info. Checking my notes, the last timeI tried it was Bing 1, Google 13, tie 27. "Better info" is of course subjective, but that's really the essence of search problems today: show me what I want. So that aspect of subjectivity is as built-in as coke vs. pepsi. But at least I'm tasting both reguarly.

hvakrg

How about "flight from seattle to houston"? All Google does is to bring you a list of sites while Bing actually gives you the posibility of comparing the prices between all those sites.

As for Bing vs Google tests one person will probably always prefer the same engine, it's only when you look at many people that you see who has the best results overall. I have no problem seing that for you Googles results are the best, but if I remember correctly, about 1/3 prefered Bings over Googles and Yahoos results. I'd say that's a pretty good result for a new engine.

StarLite

As a software developer I try Bing every now and then, but I find the search results to be abysmally bad. Where I almost always find what I want using Google, Bing just seems to throw all kinds of weird unrelated results at me. Maybe it has to do with the type of things I am looking for, but for techy stuff Google is by far the best search engine IMHO.
Durishin

I use the Chrome browser and really like the fact that I can enter a search in the URL bar w/o having to go to goog or Bing first.
aso

I BiNG, And i L@VE IT!!!
Durishin

Except…I can "star" a place in Google Maps on my PC and that starred place is then synchronized with the Google Maps on my TouchPro 2. So I can Buzz about it or get directions to it w/o having to look it up again whilst I am on the road. Bing offers nothing like that, as far asI can see so there isn't really a mesh between Bing on a computer and the Bing Client on my MinMo 6.5 phone.

Hmmm! Don't M$ do both my phone OS and Bing?
arkhi

Bing is my homepage. Bing is my default search. I Binged for a while, but then there were a few days where I really have to go technical on my search terms searching technical stuff and Bing simply can't give me the results I want. I went back to Google since. Bing is still my homepage and my default search, but I always seem to end up searching in Google.

You know what, after reading these comments, I'll try again to love Bing like I used to. Don't get me wrong, I still love it. Not just as much as I used to.