Comments on: Google's Schmidt dings Bing

Despite calling an executive committee meeting to discuss Microsoft's new search engine, Google CEO shows no signs he's worried about Bing as a competitive threat.

[Spartan_458]

Google is about being the first decent search engine and then reaching ubiquity with only minimal innovation. Bing is real innovation, and it honestly works better than Google does. It's also more visually friendly and appealing, which is a nice thing.

[lsilvest]

Nice conjecture - must be a Microsoft employee. Why not look at facts. I tried Bing 15 times with searches I normally do in Google, and ran them in Google at the same time. In 6 instances Bing was relatively close to Google, but offered no improvement. In 4 instances it was much less relevant than Googe, and in 5 instances not even relevant to the search.

I do admit it was better than Live by a long shot, but not enough reason to even bother with it any further.

I think Microsoft would be better served to use this new found technology in their help searches in Windows and Office programs which are as truly pathetic as anything I've ever encountered. Their help searches in these programs don't come up with answers even closely resembling the questions asked. All they're about is greed. They won't improve what people are already paying for, but consistently try to profit from someone else's innovation.

[inverse137]

Uhh, visually friendly? You like it because it has pretty pictures?

While trying to repair a crashed mail server last week I did research, side by side, with Bing and Google. It was still no contest. Google found what I needed. Bing even missed a Microsoft knowledge base article.

I will say that Bing is not bad. If Google were not around I would be using Bing. But Google is around and it finds what I need.

And I learned something new from this article....Yahoo still does search? Huh..go figure.

[gerrrg]

That's a joke. I tried using Bing to find flights this weekend to Honolulu, and it turns out that the link through Google to Expedia was lower than Bing's results by $100. Also, you can't specify exact searches for products like, "Nikon d5000 body only" on Bing, while I can get results in Google, of prices from different stores.

[eltoro2827]

@lsilvest I did the same thing...and in my searches...googles returns were worse that bings.

[solitare_pax]

Visually friendly and appealing?

Well, it makes it easier to find porn, doesn't it?

[Seaspray0]

I like the pretty background pictures.

[gisabun]

What do you expect from Schmidt? Saying Bing is BETTER than Google's own search engine?

I like the comment: "It's not the first entry for Microsoft. They do this about once a year," OK. Live SEarch was last year. the year before? Live SEarch? Before that? Live Search. Before that? .... Schmidt is copying Apple's skirting the truth handbook.

[massfat]

gerrrg,

I don't think you live in the US. If you do, try switching to the US version of Bing, and I don't mean just type in www.bing.com, but instead go to the website, change your language/country to the US. I think you'll see a significant difference.

Also, I don't know what the hell you're doing, but
http://www.bing.com/shopping/search?q=Nikon+d5000+body+only&mkt=en-US&FORM=BPFD
gets the answer for your query.

Also, the queries Flight honolulu, travel honolulu, travel to honolulu, go to honolulu, don't even have Expedia in the first page. On bing, you get comparisons of all sorts of flights and their farecast predictions.

[Aaron Kempf]

I just find it sad that google tries to compete in every single market. they are doomed to fail.

[handydan918]

I just find it sad that microsoft tries to compete in every single market. they are doomed to fail.

[bryanwalker]

Microsoft is on TOP of an industry, a software industry! Google is a friggen search engine trying to make headway in a market they have no clue to proceed into! Google is no better than any other search engine on the net, except Google want's all your personal information and takes it from you! Google won't be around for more than a few more years at best.

[inverse137]

"Google is no better than any other search engine on the net, except Google want's all your personal information and takes it from you! Google won't be around for more than a few more years at best."

google is no better than any other search engine? Uhh, have you actually ever used google?

[eltoro2827]

I hope they do.

[scott2400]

Google is doomed?

You should be so doomed...

[tm_anon]

@topgunb2

That was kind of the point.

@bryanwalker

Microsoft is old tech. Windows has been losing ground. Slowly, but losing ground. That's what happens when other options come along with significant improvements.

Bing doesn't offer significant improvements over Google. In fact, all Bing offers is an easier to access porn search engine. Anything else is either just as good or worse than anything Google has. That's coming from actually trying both search engines.

[jpadot]

bryanwalker - if Google stopped today, they would still remain a wealthy and profitable company because of the interest they'll be earning on their ridiculous stores of cash. Google spends that cash on R&D that is nearly always deployed as a free product for you to use. My PPC bills pay for your use of gmail. That's why Google will out-last Microsoft.

[FutureGuy]

@handydan918 " just find it sad that microsoft tries to compete in every single market. they are doomed to fail."? You must be from an alternate universe.
It looks like Google and the anti MS crowd are panicking, looks like a good sign for MS.

[SIGHUP]

As opposed to Microsoft?

[ofmyony]

Bing is better than Google Search. I instantly get more relevant information on the page. I enjoy the multimedia integration which is far superior to Google. It is visually pleasant and comfortable to use, meaning I don't get blinded by Google's all white page design. Being able to find pics and video's I want and being able to specify what formats and sizes of media I want is huge. Bing is the best search engine.

Google is Web 1.0 and Bing is Web 3.0. Microsoft has done some amazing work, good job Microsoft. Now as things progress we will get a lot of defensive comments from Google executives who will want to defend their product, instead of making it better. Listen Google you need a face lift now, get to work.

[tacit]

"I enjoy the multimedia integration which is far superior to Google."

Yeah, it makes Bing awesome as a search engine for porn, doesn't it?

As for other stuff, though, I find more relevant non-porn information on Google than on Bing. For most searches I do, Google returns more results than Bing does (on average, about twice as many; sometimes, as much as three times more than Bing does), which makes me think Google is probably searching a lot more of the Web.

Google seems significantly better than Bing at searching for technical or scientific information. Bing is better than Google at returning and categorizing results for pop musicians or rock bands; about the same (though with fewer results) for recent movies; and not as good at searching for information on blogs. For book title searches, they're pretty much dead even. When searching for reviews of popular consumer electronics, they tend to return the same results, though Bing shows far more paid ads (some of which are so profoundly inappropriate to the search terms I'm left scratching my head).

Overall, Google is clearly searching a far larger database and indexes far, far more sites than Bing. I don't plan to jump from Google to Bing.

[topgunb2]

@tacit, for every page on net there are 6 for porn. Bing's gonna fly!

Then try this blind search without branding it searches the big 3.

http://blindsearch.fejus.com/

Then tell me what you choose. Can be tampered very easy but be honest try it a least 3 times your selected search must be allways the same as it is the best for this task.

[UrgentMatter]

Yes everyone should use that website above. I have done about 10 or so proper searches on it and whilst the 3 normally put the page I want at the top of the list it's the 2nd and 3rd results that I find separates Google and has lead me to select them about 70% of the time and on the other occasions the 3 are usually inseparable.

[jpadot]

Anyone who uses the term Web 3.0 should be sacked.

[slapppy]

"It's not the first entry for Microsoft. They do this about once a year," Schmidt said Tuesday in an interview with Fox Business Network."


Ahahahaha...yeah sounds about right. Forgot to add the fact that Microsoft has two nice cash cows to keep funding this money losing programs. I guess they figure they'll eventually win if their patient enough. Sooner or later Google will have a downturn, and with no "dual cash" cows to feed them....... Good plan.

[bryanwalker]

Google is a friggen search engine, nothing more. Schmidt better start pacing as it won't be long and Google's days will be numbered, unlike MS who will be around for a very, very long time!

Bing to Google!

[zelrik]

I am sorry but to me, google is igoogle,blogger,gmail,youtube,google trends,google news and google maps at the very least! I do use all those features and I know a few people that use even more Google products.

It is now a corporation, get over it.

By the way, I dont use any M$ product, they have NOTHING for me.

[massfat]

Those products are all related to search in some way or other. Most of them don't make money either.

[HenryFieger]

"I don't think Bing's arrival has changed what we're doing."

This sounds like Microsoft from about X years ago. I've seen more and more of this type of arrogance out of Google lately. Maybe you don't need to shift your entire strategy based on one competitor, but at least take a look at what they are doing and see how it impacts your business. See if you can improve your business by taking parts of what they've done. It can still fit into your mission of organizing the world's information.

[dazweeja]

Unique visitors to Bing have dropped down below where Live was last month so what Schmidt said is perfectly reasonable. They'll just tinker around the edges of Google search, adopt some of Bing's better features and continue as before.

[NPGMBR]

"adopt some of Bing's better features" are you kidding me. Google is supposed to be king of innovation. Surely Google would not lower itself to "adopting" tech from the likes of Microsoft!

[zelrik]

@dazwweeja, I think they have enough EGO to not do that right now. Copying features is what you do when you follow and not when you lead, unless you feel an enormous threat, and Google wont admit that Bing is a threat now.

[bbabadu]

Schmidt's comments are starting to sound like Balmer's, yikes.

[tm_anon]

I won't worry until he throws a chair.

[danagrams]

Yes, Schmidt is vague and dismissive...but come on, you guys. Any of you tried using Bing for more than one search? It's TERRIBLE! I'm not talking about the address or phone number of a restaurant. I'm talking about deep search, heuristic search, multi-page search. Bing is worse than Yahoo, worse thank Ask.com for that matter!
Sure, Google may have overreached with Android and Docs (though I think they're both viable contenders to MS), but you can't touch them on search at this point in the game. Doubt that? Try to Bing something hard to find. You'll see.

[Super2online]

I'm not sure what you are searching on and what kind of results you are getting, but I can tell you that it is at least equal if not slightly ahead in all parts, and far superior in many. I do research all day long in my line of work. Since Bing has released, I have been very satisfied, and haven't felt the need to use Google even once. I have already changed Bing to the default, and unless Google changes things dramatically, I would expect that you will see lots of others do the same.

[gerrrg]

Android is an excellent OS that beats the pants off Microsoft for smart phones. With Android, I can easily choose between calling someone, sending them MMS or email, I can conduct a voice search, and I can bring up results for local searches onto Maps and show me how to get there from where I'm at.

[t8]

@ Super2online

Thanks for your paid comment. Please come to one Microsoft Way to pick up your pay.

Good work Microsoft shill.

[massfat]

It's foreigners like you that fill these comments with spam and BS. That goes for you too t8. If you don't know what you're talking about, then stay out of the US (or Canada). Obviously, you guys aren't getting the right results from Bing, and that's because Bing only works fully for the US and almost fully for Canada. It is either beta or complete crap for all other countries (and by all other I do mean ALL other countries. This includes the U.K., all European countries, Asia, etc)

[massfat]

It's foreigners like you that fill these comments with spam and BS. That goes for you too t8. If you don't know what you're talking about, then stay out of the US (or Canada). Obviously, you guys aren't getting the right results from Bing, and that's because Bing only works fully for the US and almost fully for Canada. It is either beta or complete crap for all other countries (and by all other I do mean ALL other countries. This includes the U.K., all European countries, Asia, etc)

Oh and by the way, if you are using the US version, then maybe you should stop downloading porn and getting viruses while you're at it that reroute all your searches.

[gerrrg]

The only advantages (and they're not that big) are that Bing has "cash-back" on things you buy through Bing, and they have a travel search built in. However, the cash-back requires waiting for 60 days to see it deposited in your Bing account, and you can only request a check for that amount if it's over $5. And again, the travel search is not as good as Expedia's results.

I can see Google signing a deal with Expedia - or maybe buying it from that big mogul - to work their API into Google's search page.

[t8]

Bing Search is biased in my opinion.

I tried out a number of searches that seem to give Bing properties preference.

e.g., "Auckland Map" brings up bing windows live maps or whatever it is called.
But Google Maps should be there in my opinion.

I have found this with other Bing results.

Google launched a service called Knol and people worried that Google would favour this service over Wikipedia. But Knol fails to show up in search results showing how unbiased Google is. They let Know compete like every other service out there.

I am sticking to Google, after all, Microsoft has proven itself as a dishonest company mnay times. Their history is based in dishonesty. So why would I trust my data to their cloud services and why would I use a biased search engine?

Also Google is still a great search engine, so I don't need to change the way I search.

[Sourdust]

I don't understand your comment. Searching for "Auckland Map" on Google or Bing brings up a list of web sites that have maps of Auckland. Google maps doesn't come up on Bing and Bing, Yahoo, etc maps don't come up on Google. Google maps is the first link Google shows on it's page and Bing doesn't seem to have a link to any Microsoft related maps sites at all. If anything you should complain about that.

[t8]

@ Sourdust

Funny. Yes you are right.

They must have changed it after they read this comment.

They gave themselves no1 position for the last week and I checked when I made my post.

I guess they removed it after this exposure.

Still, I can almost guarantee that if they ever get dominance in search, then they will slowly point traffic to themselves. This is Microsoft we are talking about. It is in their DNA to be biased toward themselves and Windows. People and organisations don't change just like that.

[massfat]

More like they indexed more websites. Your opinion is biased anyways. Microsoft has proven themselves to be honest and their history is based on doing things for the consumer/enterprise good.

[gamersat678]

Doing things for the people???? Ha. Look at Vista or how about the 360? I have had my system sent in 3 times for ROD repair only to get it back "fixed" and have the ROD again a day later. They won't accept it again its out of warranty (blew up one week after the warranty expired). It's great that Mircrosoft is allowing an upgrade from Vista as of know and till it comes out. But what about the rest of Microsoft's suckers (yes thats us). Do we get an upgrade? Nope were sunk.

Are you sure? so make some different searches and then vote. Lets see if you can really tell the difference without the branding.

http://blindsearch.fejus.com/

This just an experiment have fun.

[cwtxxx]

I tried - Yahoo won each time...

go figure.

[madmongol]

Bing by MS is better in certain ways but still far less desirable in terms of what I want to find than Google. I think though that this latest entrant and others like Wolfram Alpha indicate that companies involved in search are looking for different ways to do things that may make them more attractive than Google. Similar attitudes are somewhat apparent in social networks where their search engines are not Google's necessarily (nor should they) but rather looking for different content based on the context of their users. Also search by the likes of NetFlix is another instance where search engines can be very helpful even if not complete in their coverage of say the internet like Google.

I would tend to agree that Google's recent statements tend to be a bit arrogant. Bing of course is just one of a few such as the one about Twitter. Now arguably you Twitter may not be to your liking, but dismissing a technology even as it gains interest by the public is worrisome. Google which is an engineering company and should continue to produce great technology is beginning to lose touch with the more instinctual/subjective side of brilliance that others are working on. What made Google was not technology alone, but also it's simplicity and how it appealed to the public. If Google continues to lose touch of what appeals to the public, no amount of cool technology is going to save them. Hopefully they can manage that balancing act which is terribly difficult.

[ToreBQ]

There were three key pieces that made the Google search the winnerabout 10 years ago:

1: You couldn't buy a high "search result ranking", so results were "real".
2: It didn't force you to work a certain way (yahoo did).
3: It didn't mix in a bunch of stuff. It did what it did, no more, no less.

Honest and uncluttered search and results, and letting the user decide what and how made them successful. I tried Bing, and it seemed almost like Google with a pretty picture added to the search screen. I didn't do any comparative searches to determine which search engine is "better". However, Microsoft has a history of considering their users to be idiots who need to be led, and this mindset came out in a couple of articles/interviews I saw about their plans for bing. So I'll stick with Google for now.

On a separate note, I prefer Live Maps over Google Maps mainly due to the birdseye view and advanced paste (multi-line address), but with bing, the maps are in a subdomain instead of on a different server, which means I can't just type "maps" in the URL bar and pick the dropdown (although maps.live gets redirected for the time being.)

[miffedone]

Nobody has mentioned the Bing TV commercials, so here goes: the worst television advertising and marketing I have seen in years. Hyperactive cuts, thrilling to the director, perhaps, but the first 9/10ths of the spot make no sense unless you already know what they're advertising. (I went back thanks to TiVo.) If the intention was to say "We're not Google", well, OK, but I suspect most people won't even notice. Google wins with 'simple', 'direct', and the Bing spots are the opposite. Unfortunately, simple wins for 99% of the world (but not computer geeks, apparently.)

Even then, it appears Microsoft is trying to 'create' a dissatisfaction with <unnamed search site> which doesn't exist. Search overload? It's exactly what people are looking for: lots of options and varied potential answers. If 'search overload' was a problem, then Yahoo! would be creaming Google, not the other way around. I'm shocked that these commercials got past a focus group; I can guess the people in the room said "Wha? Huh?" Definitely spots which will pass almost unnoticed, and accomplish almost nothing in the way of sampling by most folks. Those who will sample are those who would anyway. A colossal waste of money. [My experience with Bing itself? Meh.]

[ToreBQ]

The bing ad is a big bing turn-off. It isn't about the product (bing) or about the use (search). It apparently targets the "oh cool" crowd that care more about a fancy picture than about getting the job done.

[Mistafied]

Wow these corporations so worried about their pocket books. In the end the money will be worthless. Enjoy yourselves fighting over power none of you elites understand
T

[Mistafied]

http://www.youtube.com/user/KaneSpell

[Mistafied]

http://www.youtube.com/user/KaneSpell
T

[sellitman]

Funny...I don't use any Microsoft products anymore.

Why would I want to use a inferior search engine?

Virtually every review gives Google an edge.

Microsoft is a Dinosaur.

[I_just_Know]

I think most of you are missing the point... Microsoft is moving into a new market, new thinking ....

Schmidt has been here before and he dropped the ball big time... Novell was the leader by far in the server marketplace... Microsoft can in strong with a so so product and Schmidt decided they was nothing to worry about....

Oh ya where is Novell now...

I'm just saying....

[t8]

Schmidt competed against a much bigger company with bigger marketing and a monopoly on the desktop. Now it is the other way round. Microsoft is the smaller player in the Web space.

So far and for a number of years now, Schmidt has been winning the Web. Microsoft just keeps fumbling. And you know why that is? I will tell you. Google is 110% focussed on the Web. Microsoft is 25% focussed on the Web. 5% focussed on Xbox and the like, and 70% focussed on software that is fast becoming outdated compared with Web apps.

[darkness4209]

Bing. What a joke. I think that this is a new low point for Microsoft. Since it has slowly been losing ground to Open Source companies, they keep trying to create "new" services that are far more disappointing than just rumors. Bing's search to me was far from being relevant in one weeks worth of searches ran side by side with Google. Google is truly paving the way for a new generation of developers, programmers, and future software companies. I for one have been utilizing Google for a search engine for many years, and when they started creating apps and other tools to do everything better, I was hooked. Long live the Googleplex.

[M5F6]

I tried to switch to Bing after Google commemorated the anniversary of D-Day with an homage to Tetris, but there was just no comparison. Bing's image search was better, but that's about it. If I was looking up a name, but misspelled it, Bing helpfully provided the 6 pages on the internet that used the same spelling I did, and nothing else. Google is smart enough to overlook what I ask for and give me what I probably want, and that's enough to keep me coming back.