Giving Bing a Chance

I'm not optimistic that Microsoft's (MSFT) new Bing search service will be able to displace Google (GOOG) as the king of search, but I am going to give it a chance. I think the biggest challenge is not convincing users that it is better (or even as good). I think the biggest problem is erasing our collective muscle memory that causes us to go to Google whenever we want to search for something on the Internet.

So I've taken the step this morning of installing the "official" Bing Firefox add-on which puts Bing into the search box at the upper left of Firefox. And I've also moved it up to the top of the list of search engines I use in Firefox. I will use Bing as my default search engine for the next week and see how it goes.

I'll report back next weekend on how this experiment works out. And I encourage all of you to do the same thing and let us know how Bing is working for you too.

Comments

[Josh B Thom...:]

All I am saying is give Bing a chance.

Jun 14 02:44 PM

[Jonha's Pop:]

I gave Bing a week and found it quite satisfactory. As an investor in Mr. Softie, I kinda like stcking my finger in Googles eye.

Jun 15 08:20 AM

[captainccs:]

For a technology to displace another it has to be better and cheaper. Google being free, Bing would have to pay people to use it. As for better, no one has claimed that for Bing as far as I know.

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Jun 15 08:37 AM

[boobobadoo:]

"Bing would have to pay people to use it." I use Bing, because I get cashback when I make online purchases. It's called, Bing.com/cashback. Google doesn't even do this..their revenue goes right into their pockets.

Jun 15 09:26 AM

[ard:]

As an experiment in relieving my dependence on Google, I have used Microsoft Live Search, and now Bing, pretty exclusively for over two years - and have not suffered any disadvantage. I have also used Line Spout for real time search.

Jun 15 10:28 AM

[Malcolm Ong:]

Did exactly that last week -- downloaded the Firefox add-on and made Bing my default search engine. So far, so good.

Jun 15 10:40 AM

[BlackRose:]

did this as well and I am appreciating the change, sometimes changes are teach us a lot. really like the different images they publish every day!

Jun 15 11:45 AM

[AC_India:]

I like the photo background feature too. Plus the search results appear to be comparable with Google's.

Jun 15 12:40 PM