On May 28th, Microsoft introduced Bing, a new search engine. It claims to be not just another Search Engine but a "Decision Engine". Bing will be deployed at bing.com.au on 3rd June 2009 and will replace MSN Live Search.
The “Decision Engine” is mainly aimed at online shoppers and focuses on four key user tasks ie making a purchase, planning a trip, researching a health condition or finding a local business. It splits results into categories and highlights reviews and price comparisons. It even offers cash back from online retailers !
For example, people using Bing to shop online will automatically be provided with product reviews and those planning trips will get information regarding travel bargains. It allows you to enter travel dates and it will find various options including a price predictor to show when it estimates fares will be at their cheapest. With health searches, Bing claims that it uses only recognised sources for it’s information.
Another example of how it works shows a search for "Oscars" will bring a list of facts, including best picture for this year's awards, above the normal search links. Other features include the "best match" function, which will deliver the user just one result for popular searches such as "Facebook", making the page less cluttered. Video searches will now offer short previews with sound when the user runs their mouse over a search result.
While the Bing home page has little text it instead shows a colouful background picture where the image will change every day to suit world events.
Microsoft has created a new site describing Bing, DiscoverBing.com, and the brand has a new Twitter account: @bing. You can also checkout how it looks at decisionengine.com
Here are some of the points included in Microsoft's Fact Sheet on Bing
Almost any search engine can provide basic results, but with Bing, we’ve improved many aspects of the search experience.
- Home page. Because you may not always know about the range of content a search engine can find for you, the Bing home page includes a beautiful new image daily, information hotspots embedded in that image, and clear links for starting your searches for video, news, shopping, travel, images or maps.
- Autosuggest. Bing examines what you are typing in the search box and will automatically suggest similar terms or common refinements related to the term you are typing. For example, when searching for “California,” you will see common related searches, including “California DMV,” “California lottery” and “California ski report.”
- Best Match. The Bing Best Match feature is designed to make finding relevant information easier by cutting down the number of clicks and getting you to your final destination faster. Best Match results include customer service numbers for retail sites, the ability to track a package right from the search page, deep links to common pages within the site and much more.
- Document Preview. Nearly one-quarter of searches result in rapid click back, when you realize that the search result was not what you were looking for. Document Preview lets you hover over a search result to see a preview of the site’s content, which helps you determine whether the site is likely to contain the information you’re looking for — before you click.
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