BING: Bing Is Not Google

So, I have been playing with Bing for a few days and I'll come right out and say it. It's not half bad. Shocking, for a MS product, really. But, it got me thinking, what's Microsoft's game with Bing. Are they really going after Google? Is MS going to again try to step outside it's core competence to take on an industry leader and fail miserably. It's not that Bing is bad, but its not Google (Bing Is Not Google). 

And I think that Microsoft knows this, which might explain their ad campaign. Bing's primary position is first to distance itself from Google by calling the product a Decision Engine, not a search engine... and then to denigrate "search" and by taking it to the furthest degree of uselessness, "search overload syndrome". Which might be fine, but in typical MS fashion they've also tried to game change "search" by introducing too many features in its initial launch... substituting ease of use and good UX for quantity and infinite options.

You see, Bing seeks to be more than a search engine, heck, even more than a Decision Engine. It wants to be a full-life product that redefines how you interact with the web. It starts by replacing results organization based on popularity/credibility with categorical/heirarchical arrangements. Similarly, instead of just searching and reporting links, for example with air travel, Bing establishes that it can help you find the best travel prices and the best destinations and can even predict when the prices are going to be optimal for purchase. Looking for a digital camera?, Bing wants to drive you, not to web pages and stores with products, but rather to pull the results and let users compare and shop directly within Bing.

And, admittedly all this sounds rather nice - except we know that Microsoft is behind Bing and... and that just seems weird. 

Google has built its reputation based on simplicity and immediately obvious user experiences... backed up by good technology and well thought out design. The best parts of Bing are lifted from Google's search methodology. The most noticeable parts to Bing are improvements like video previews and infinite scrolling VS pagination on image searches. But those are UX tweaks, not something to base a new product on... particularly one pitched against such an established leader. Google obfuscates the technology to simplify the user experience; in typical MS fashion Bing add features ,  All of which goes a long way to explain the Bing product brand position and Microsoft challenging them on marketing positions and not functionality. 

We'll have to see where this one nets out, but I have a feeling that in the end Google will update some of their functionality, Bing won't capture a significant part of the market share, and Microsoft will be out a lot of coin. The winners? Well, as much as Bing is a good product that won't turn "search" on it's head, the television brand marketing campaign is pretty decent, even if the overall concept is frustratingly simple. Congrats to JWT for getting away with it.