The Clash of the Titans
No, I’m not going to review bing or write a bing vs. Google article.There are numerous articles and even sites doing it justice. Google is an established player in the search business, with a 64% share in the market. Google grew out of search and has always tried its best for the betterment of the search algorithms involved and the results produced. Microsoft, on the other hand had been bleeding market share over its products to Google for a long time. Ever since Google began releasing its free resources to the general public, starting with gmail, the war had begun. And it was almost always a one sided win, with Google generally taking advantage of its famed simplicity and efficiency combined with funny and humerous ways of introducing products.
Microsoft finally seems to have caught up on what it was lacking a long time. It had atlast begun to listen to its users. Eversince the much hyped Microsoft Windows Vista failed to make any noise, Microsoft have been careful of its products and the general market. Majority of the products that the evil from Redmond had been releasing ever since are quality products, reminiscent of the times that Micro-soft was formed. The new Internet Explorer, Office Suite and the unexpected free software, Windows Live Writer and above all, the latest Windows, Windows 7 have garnered hugely positive reviews and recommendations.
Thus it is a “re-boot”ed Microsoft now going to come into the open with a war cry against its now giant opponent Google, by striking on the very roots of its opponent, search. But will it succeed? Microsoft is taking its competition to an unsuccessful and unchartered domain. Competing with Google on search has always been done starting from Yahoo! to Microsoft itself, but the competition always remained in papers. In the Web World, it had been Google. Search had become synonymous with Google for the layman. Usage of terms like “Googling”, eventhough Google opposes it, is prevalent. So what is Microsoft’s strategy to announce the World that it is taking on Google ? Advertisements. According to reports, Microsoft has allocated big funds for advertisements relating to bing. But even with big money and big assurances, it is difficult to change what has been etched out in the minds of many.
So what are the chances of Microsoft hitting a home run in search? Slim, I’d say unless Microsoft somehow convinces the general public, as opposed to geeks, that bing is a viable option as the reviewers say.
My opinion? For simplicity and content, I have to give Google the prize, but for innovative ideas like hover-on-info, Microsoft wins. Still, for its simplicity and reputation, I go with Google.
There, Mr. Microsoft. Convince me first.
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