bing is the new name for search at Microsoft – find out more at http://www.decisionengine.com and follow bing on twitter
I can't help but feel that Microsoft keeps promising the world and delivering something less. I use live.com and I love it, the reason I don't use Google is because I genuinely prefer the results I get from Live and any improvement is welcome but that doesn't mean that a relaunch is going to make any difference.
1. The adverts in the launch campaign better make sure people know this is a SEARCH engine, and a better one, not just some strange portal for deals and health information. My sister watched the Bing.com video and asked why anybody would go on it... that isn't good.
2. It's incredible how much we ignore the trends of usage of the internet today, and that goes for all search engines. I will change provider in a heart beat if one of the big players manges to figure this out. The internet in the last 5 years has become a MEDIA portal, and nothing addresses this properly. Microsoft does the best job at concept searching, by which I mean if I search for answers it's the place to go. Google is a good medium place, whilst Yahoo is getting better in all areas. The other area being MEDIA...music, movies, books, podcasts if I am searching for these things you better give me it. Let me discuss the examples...
(2a) Podcasts- If I search for "Windows Weekly", I want the cover art, the link to the last show, the description, the hosts, a link to the Official site and I want to be able to preview the last episode right there at the top of the results and if I wanted to I should be able to add it to my Zune or iTunes podcasts. It's relevant, and most of all Microsoft has an index of Podcasts at their disposal from the Zune marketplace... why not utilise it? It would also encourage producers to add their podcasts to the directory. Win win and none of the other big three have such a directory already.
(2b) Music- if I search for "I'm not sick, but I'm not well" it's a lyric, yet a search on live.com gives me Blink 182 links... it's NOT blink 182... it's Harvey Danger. Yahoo owns a lyrics database and MS should do the same, so if I search for some lyrics I get the album, the artist, the homepage, links to buy music of Zune, itunes or amazon... MS gets cashback. And what if I search for an artist? Again MS has that information from Zune Marketplace... it's ALREADY THERE.
(2c) Movies- a search of a cinematic release should show me review scores, cast details, synopsis, a link or local cinemas, official sites etc. Released DVDs should provide Netflix or Lovefilm links, marketplace links etc No such database is owned by MS, but Yahoo has one.. copy them for gods sake.
(2d) TV- show titles like "My name is Earl" should have schedule information, links to onDemand services or Marketplaces, official sites, cast members. Again Zune has this database to some extent.
(2e) And what about companies? Car manufacturers etc... it would be great to see links to them, I mean we can get their stock values at present... work on it!
Can you imagine people rejecting such a search engine? One with semantic search for the questions and useful details for the "things"- the media, the objects the entertainment... the thing we all crave and constantly use the internet for. A portal for our daily persuits not a solution finder for our once-in-a-whiles.
