Microsoft Bings in New Search Engine

There have been rumblings over the past few days about Microsoft developing a new search engine. Today, the company has finally confirmed that the service, called Bing, will be officially up and running in Canada and the U.S. by June 3, with beta versions launching in other markets as well (including a French-language version).

Of course the question is what can Bing, which will be accessible in Canada through the www.bing.ca portal, offer over and above competing search engines? Microsoft says that the engine will attempt to work on intelligence, so to speak, filtering results in a logically organized manner and based on what one's search intent is, rather than just providing a large number of results, ordered by perceived relevance. With more and more content being added to the net, it has become increasingly difficult to sift through all the results a search engine can yield. In fact, Microsoft claims that three-quarters of people who run searches online don't find what they're looking for; and that the "back" key is the most popular button in most search engines!

The folks from Microsoft Canada walked us through some of Bing's features to demonstrate its advantages. A hover preview, for example, gives you a glimpse of what you'll see on a linked Website without requiring that you click into it. Best matches is similar to Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" button; and quick tabs show popular sub-categories related to your search term for a more comprehensive list of results. Search term results will centre around four main themes, which Microsoft feels are the most common among web searchers: making a purchasing decision, planning a trip, researching a health condition, and finding a local business. Run a search for your latest Air Canada flight, for example, and you'll instantly get real-time updates on its status. Search for "chickenpox", and you can use the left-hand quick tabs, much like a table of contents, to head right to results that relate to "symptoms", "treatment", or "diagnosis".

Additional features include Sentiment Extraction, which searches for user opinions and expert reviews on products a web surfer is looking to buy; a Rate Key that compares the location, price and amenities of multiple hotels and provides a colour-coded key of the best values; and a Price Predictor that helps consumers figure out when to get the lowest prices on airline tickets.

Why call it Bing? Aside from reminding you of Matthew Perry's character surname on Friends, the new moniker, says Microsoft, was chosen because it reflects that moment when you finally come up with the search result you desire. It's also language-friendly because it's short, easily spelled, and can be interpreted well in other countries. Not to mention that Microsoft was also able to own the domain name.

Since the brand is changing from MSN Live Search to Bing, other search functions will also change names: Virtual Earth will become Bing Maps; Farecast technology will be known as Bing Travel; and the cashback program now carries the moniker Bing cashback.

Bing's strategy can work both ways. If the intent of your search falls in line with the most common intents for a particular search, it will work to your advantage. But Bing also runs the risk of completely missing the mark for those who often look for obscure, out-of-the-box results that, while uncommon, might reflect their particular train of thought. But as with any other search engine, once you learn its quirks and patterns, it's likely that users will be able to input search terms that they know will yield more accurate results.

Rival company Yahoo! said today that it would happily entertain a new purchase offer from Microsoft for its own search engine...for the right price. With the new development of Bing, will Microsoft try to leverage that service through such an acquisition, or leave the situation as a polite "thanks, but no thanks?" Stay tuned.

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