Ballmer's Yahoo! bullishness hides Bing brand play

Yeah Right 2

"We are already seeing initial anecdotal evidence that people are using 'Bing' as a verb."

We are also seeing green shoots of recovery. The Jury is still out on whether these are not just the next bubble fattening up while everything else goes down the toilet. It's all about interpretation.

In the Real World, using bing leaves one with the hope that it's still currently indexing stuff.

Reg logo because of the green shoots.

"people are using 'Bing' as a verb"...

oh no. oh no, no no!

Please tell me that marketing types haven't latched onto this metric as a measure of a products success? FFS, marketing types have ruined enough, hopefully that aren't going after the English language now.

On a related note, about taking search results and switching the name at the top to "Google": People think so highly of Google's "brand" because Google has done a fairly good job at returning relevant results. Even if Google sold their name to MS tomorrow, MS would destroy it in a year by returning shitty results.

It takes hundreds of searches to figure out how good a search engine is, and lets face it, each player has earned their reputation. That being said, Google is certainly no saint. Their search results have been getting crappier, and their ads more abundant. It won't take much for Google to loose their place, if they actually had some real competition.

But at the end of the day, the answer is clear: in the long term, people opt for quality not "branding".

I accidentally wound up on Mapquest earlier today

and it took me a moment or two to work out why the page had 'Bing" all over it. That's some good market penetration.

I've heard plenty of anecdotal evidence that Microsoft's upper management is entirely composed of mouthbreathing morons.

Verb...

Bing oogling for years - what's the issue?

verbage

"We are already seeing initial anecdotal evidence that people are using 'Bing' as a verb"

Yes, but that's just people taking the piss and saying "if you bing for it, you'll find it" (they really mean that you'll find something almost but not entirely unlike it, but that takes too long to say and rather detracts from the point)

Surely not.

> Clearly, Microsoft thinks that Bing is already as good as Google and that its past search problems were all about branding - not the technology.

Oh God, if Microsoft really thinks this, THEY'RE SO FUCKED.

Fail ahoy !

Man, Microsoft is setting themselves up for a massive kick in the balls, and Yahoo, just bought more time to reinvent themselves as they next big thing.

I can see this going down in flames, MS with egg all over their face, and the Yahoo management taking a golden parachute, blaming MS for the fail.

*eats popcorn*

This'll be the BEST comedy in ages.

Pass the Koolaid

"We are already seeing initial anecdotal evidence that people are using 'Bing' as a verb."

When people other than paid MS shills and their associated fanbois start verbing it up with bing then I might be impressed, until then I clearly haven't been drinking enough of that Redmond Koolaid.

Yeah, but.

EmS still has the desktop monopoly sewn up and will no doubt entrench Ding so tightly into Doze7 that it will freeze out google slowly. If failure of this tie up with yahoo is to cost EmS money, expect them to try every shitty anti-competitive unhandy tactic they have been famous for in past, plus some new ones, to undercut google.

verb?

"We are already seeing initial anecdotal evidence that people are using 'Bing' as a verb."

.....what the bing does that mean?

Bing Bong, MS calling

I'm sorry MS, but "Bing" just makes me think of Chandler from Friends, who would not be my chosen companion on a quest for knowledge.

Bing it

So it's fine for people to use "google" as a verb. But when they start using "bing" as a verb they're "morons". Their marketing campaign clearly has made some impact to the target audience. Without competitions there'll be no innovations. So I say "bing it" and don't just "google it" to all narrow minded f**k0rs.

Bing as a Verb

From dictionary.com:

bing(2) - verb(used without object) /Obsolete/

*to go*

...presumably as in 'to go down the sh*thole', in which case Microsoft are indeed 'binging' and the term will be heard even more often, acecdotally or otherwise

Bing Crosby is Spinning in His Grave

"That's a huge statement of confidence in Microsoft's Bing and AdCenter"

No, it's a statement of desperation - Ballmer seems to be betting the farm on getting the word Bing in the dictionary. As usual they've started with the brand name and worked back to the product instead of starting with a product that works, like Google did.

Does it work?

in this I agree with Ballmer, binge is a verb

RE: "people are using 'Bing' as a verb"

I've not conviced Microsoft actually have a clue as to what they are doing...

Instead of fighting Google on success of search and accuracy of search, they seem to think that marketing can make up for the short fall.

Personally I think Microsoft is really stupid to compete with Google on this basis - admit is Ballmer, Google are better than you are and they know what they are actually doing - your trying to match Google when you don't even understand what your enemy is doing.

I looked at Bing for a slip second (I would like competition to Google as well as the next person) but changing Live to Bing and doesn't seem to make the product any better.

Bing is like a Austin Allegro - rubbish and should be consigned to the scrap yard. Google is like a Lotus, noticely designed but could be improved upon.

Microsoft having an agreement with Yahoo! is interesting but I don't think this is going to help - the thing is people use Google as it's accurate, quick and reliable - I hate to say it but Microsoft, you're not know for being accurate, quick or reliable in any of your existing products and even though you might throw massive amounts of money at the problem, you'll never achieve it.

Mike

Sorry to abmit it but...

I actually use Bing and quite like it. Gives very similar results to Google in some informal testing and has been quite snappy. There really isn't much between them in my opinion.....

Though I'd never use it as a verb just as I wouldn't say "googling" either.

Try Bing before you disparage it??

The article is a bit unfair to Bing, It does contain some significant new technology. The quality of search results has improved and it does have the feature of streaming image results. So... if your looking for an image you will find Bing much better than Google.