Bing.

Tim had a great post about the launch of Bing awhile back. Being the crabby oldish lady set in my ways that I am, I had never actually used Bing so I thought I’d give it a shot this morning.

I like their commercials. Or should I say I like the idea of their commercials. Because as I searched for a new “Graco Snugride car seat cover” this morning imagine my surprise when the first three out of four items it pulled had not much to do with what I needed.

GM? Nope, I do not need a new car, Bing. I need a cover for a car seat. Next. No, Bing. I don’t think that Cabela’s carries baby products which if you looked at the first word I searched for you’d know that link would be useless to me. Graco = baby stuff. Cabelas = hunting outdoorsy stuff. Bing did give me a link to eBay, which I will count as a decent lead because I can probably find one there. Next though, Sears Auto Accessories for a car cover? Survey says … nada.

So as for my great Bing experience? Nah. I’m sticking with Google. It does what I need it to do and Bing does it no better. Plus, I love when Google gets creative with the Google logo.

Ned Ryerson? Bing!

Sorry, I have to quote the greatest movie of all time, Groundhog Day, whenever I can.

But, the important part of my title is “Bing”, as in Microsoft’s new search engine bing.com. MS is making a new attempt to pick a fight with the almighty goliath that is Google. Their strategy? They’re not just a search engine, they’re a “decision engine.” Bing.com will offer new “services” to help you get to the end result of your search quicker. By end result, I mean not just read about that camera you’re thinking of getting, but actually get you on your way to purchasing it with shopping options. Sometimes even with a cash back incentive.

To be honest, currently (it’s still beta) it doesn’t look like Bing does anything extraordinary that Google doesn’t, it’s just organized differently.

Will it make a difference? Can they steal market share from Google. 

In my opinion, no. First of all, not many people are looking for an alternative to Google. It works, it’s fast, and it stays out of your way. Like many  MS products, in their attempt to make things more accessible it becomes more bloated with things that just get in the way. Case in point, when I went to bing.com it immediately started badgering me to update my Silverlight software. Why? I just want to search some reviews on the video camera I’m considering.

We’ll see. It’s early and I’m sure Bing.com will evolve. But, I don’t think Google is very concerned.