Microsoft Bing search engine review: Screenshots
Will the updated search engine woo the masses?
By Tom Spring, PC World | IDG News Service | Published 17:00, 28 May 09
Microsoft's latest vehicle for achieving the elusive goal of Web dominance is Bing.
Previously known as Kumo while in development, Bing replaces Microsoft's Live Search brand and carries forward the company's strategy for taking on Google and Yahoo.
Besides introducing a new look to Microsoft's search interface, Bing adds a spruced-up navigation for search results, including a new left-hand navigation bar, a hover feature that lets users preview Web pages before visiting them, and a categorised search feature that groups search results by topic category.
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer publicly demonstrated Bing for the first time Tuesday at the D: All Things Digital technology conference. Bing goes live to the public beginning on June 3; it will be phased in over the course of several days.
Bing: The Un-Google Search Engine
Among Bing's core improvements over Live Search, according to Microsoft, are its ability to scour the Web more deeply and to deliver more-relevant search results faster. But the most striking feature of Bing - setting it apart from Live Search and what Google and Yahoo deliver--is the way it parses and displays search results.
Whereas Google emphasises a stark, quick-loading design and a list of highly relevant search results, Bing's search results are organized into what it calls Search Categories - subdivisions such as Web, Maps, Images, and Health.
