Microsoft's modest Bing tinkerers on Google trip
Ex-Walmart man and current Microsoftie Kevin Turner might have peppered partners with anti-Google talking points this week, but the team that's building Redmond's challenger Bing aren't so gung-ho. In fact, they're being uncharacteristically soft-spoken — for Microsoft — about their hopes for the future and dreams of changing …
And that provides me one very good reason to use it.
The present state of the search industry—i.e. only one major player with a near monopoly; sound familiar?—is deeply unhealthy.
And Microsoft have been flailing about like a drowning man for years. It's about damned time they started getting *something* right in this sector. And toning down the arrogance is an unexpected bonus.
When it has so many crappy portal partners all over the world? Regional Bing is a shadow of the US experience because MS doesn't want to tread on any partner toes
"Privately, Googlers admit they are scared of Microsoft — and they should be, given it's track record of coming from behind against Novell, Palm, and Sony in operating systems, devices, and games over the years."
I rate that track record 1 out of 3 - operating systems. Well, file serving (so 90's) to be precise, but I won't be picky.
Where is the MS device that beat Palm ?? Shurely you can't mean Windows Mobile-based devices ??
And if I was running a company, I'd like to make a PROFIT out of what I sell. The MS Games division is a long, long, long way from doing that. Not that Sony is, either, but large piles of cash can last a long, long time.
to get Bing's proposed features
http://www.wolframalpha.com/downloads.html#searchAddons
Also, you can do the image wipes, without Silvelight, in current HTML and JavaScript on a decent browser: avoiding Microsoft lock-in.
We users need competing search services, not competing advert services.
