Microsoft’s Bing Gets A Facelift

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Software giant Microsoft announced a series of major upgrades to its search engine, Bing, at an event in San Francisco. The upgrades are an attempt to get a larger piece of the internet search engine pie from market shareholder Google.

Google currently claims about two thirds of internet search engine users, while Bing takes around 12%.

The updates include:

Facebook Integration: The search engine is becoming more Facebook friendly. Like every other business in the world, Bing is looking to capitalize and bring users to their interface by targeting the Facebook market. Bing and Facebook users will be able to “like” a story or link straight from the search index, and see what their friends “like.”

More Comprehensive Maps: Bing’s mapping feature is about to get a lot more detailed, with maps of shopping malls, transit systems, museums and driving directions coming soon. While this addition won’t bring Bing anywhere near Google Earth, it’s a helpful upgrade, especially for those who are visiting ...
... museums and other spots from out of town.

Check-in: I’m not sure why this function is becoming so wildly popular, but Bing has jumped on the bandwagon. It will allow you to “check-in” and let people know where you are at all times. I’m not sure how many of my friends care that “Stephanie has checked-in at McDonalds.” Even my parents don’t want that many details. But, some people seem to like it.

Bing Vision: This is a lot like Google’s app that recognizes objects and will perform searches based on what they are identified as. It will also scan barcodes and tell you specific information about that item. So far, I’m not sure how functional this will be, because the beauty of Google’s app is that it’s mobile. You can take pictures with your cell phone and find out what things are. I don’t know how many people are going to take the time to snap a picture of something with their web cam to find out more information.

These updates are scheduled to be released starting today, and should be available to everyone before the end of the year.

For now, I don’t think Google has anything to worry about. They’ve been in this business for a long time, and they may not mind sharing a measly 12% of the internet pie with Bing. However, it’s the slow leaks that go unnoticed that can leave you stranded suddenly. If Google wants to stay on top, they’ll have to continue keeping up with the ever changing internet market and adding more and more usable features to their search engine and apps.

For example, with the release of Chrome, Google is stretching into the operating system market, and may even take some of the market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It’s this constant evolution that keeps Google ahead of the game. Sadly, Bing seems to be one step behind most of the time, although these latest upgrades will help close the gap…for now.