DETROIT—Look out Google, there is a new search engine out from Microsoft. In its introduction statement offered on the Web site, Bing promises to aid its users in making “smarter, faster decisions,” but does it deliver?
In my test, I decided to start with the most natural thing: just searching some topics. I started three different tabs and searched various topics on the Bing Google, and Yahoo search engines and compared the results. Interestingly, all three search engines brought up almost exactly the same Web sites, in a different order, but with less advertisements than Yahoo. This is not exactly what the commercials had promised me.
The real difference between Bing and all the other search engines is in the little extras, such as the ability to preview a Web site before clicking on it. These extras are so unobtrusive that I did not even realize they were there. At first glance, Bing is kind of disappointing, but after users take the offered tour they will understand what the fuss is all about.
For Internet users like myself who are tired of seeing almost nothing but ads on Yahoo, and who dislike Google’s unethical choice to aid the Chinese Communist Party in censorship, Bing is a more than welcome alternative.
In my test, I decided to start with the most natural thing: just searching some topics. I started three different tabs and searched various topics on the Bing Google, and Yahoo search engines and compared the results. Interestingly, all three search engines brought up almost exactly the same Web sites, in a different order, but with less advertisements than Yahoo. This is not exactly what the commercials had promised me.
The real difference between Bing and all the other search engines is in the little extras, such as the ability to preview a Web site before clicking on it. These extras are so unobtrusive that I did not even realize they were there. At first glance, Bing is kind of disappointing, but after users take the offered tour they will understand what the fuss is all about.
For Internet users like myself who are tired of seeing almost nothing but ads on Yahoo, and who dislike Google’s unethical choice to aid the Chinese Communist Party in censorship, Bing is a more than welcome alternative.
