What is the “bing” thing?

A few times over the past couple weeks people have asked me about BING.  What is it?  How does it work? Quite honestly, until then, I didn’t care to know anything about it. All I knew was it was a Microsoft product and I am not a big fan of Microsoft.  Nothing personal, “Bill”  but with all the bugs, viruses and careless products, once I got back to Mac, I realized I was home.  Besides, I use Google I am happy with it.

But for some of the same reasons I didn’t like Microsoft, I guess I shouldn’t really like Google.  Competition is good. It makes us sharper and make better products and if it weren’t for competition we would be sitting around like fat cats, producing mediocre products and services and shoving them down the consumers (that is you and me) throats.

So I checked out Bing.  To you and me, we would call it a search engine.  To Microsoft, they call it a DECISION ENGINE. Their ad slogan is “Bing and Decide.”

So what? You still don’t know what it does, do you?  I had a friend of mine walk me through it and it is kind of neat in some ways. Then I try it on and off when I feel like it.  It pulls together a lot of media (many of which have been purchased or morphed by Microsoft), into one place.

What makes it different from Google?

Click here to read an amusing article in PC World.

Anything with Smackdown in the title and it doesn’t relate to wrestling, immediately gets my attention.

But the minute you log on to Bing, you know it is different.  It is pictures, it is motion and the page art changes every day.  Hardly the static geek look of Google, but if you know your search words, “Who needs all those pretty pictures?” I say.  Bing, like Google allows gateways to their products, Google has maps and street view (great for stalkers and data junkies) while Bing focuses on more lifestyle things.

So I am not saying it is better, I am just saying it is different.  As different as the personalities and marketing strategies of Microsoft and Google.  My suggestion?  Take a few days and give it a try, you may not want to give up your Google or dogpile, but it is good to see what else is out there to use, for FREE!