Can’t Google it? Microsoft will help you Bing it

BANGALORE: Will you Bing it, or Google it? That���s the big question the world���s biggest software company Microsoft will be asking over one billion internet search users across the world, after the company will launch its new search engine Bing on June 3, and prepares to compete more effectively with Google.

While Google invented the advertising-based search model, which produces most popular items for each query, Microsoft is aiming to change the game by calling Bing a ���decision engine��� , which will offer more insights to users for helping them take decisions, and not necessarily throw the most popular and relevant items.

���We are introducing a new level of organisation to search results, and our differentiator will be the best results for query,��� Satya Nadella, senior vice- president (R&D , online services division) Microsoft told mediapersons in a press conference on Friday.

For instance, if a user runs a search for British Airways, Bing will provide the airline���s customer service centre number, apart from a host of best deals sorted by trends in ticket price for a particular sector. Moreover, an opinion index will also rate the search results based on an algorithm developed by Microsoft . Codenamed Kimo for past many months, Bing in Chinese language means a certain answer, or response to a query.

Avid search users, such as 29-year-old Prashanth Prakash in Bangalore, who is working in market analytics division of an FMCG major, Bing could be the search engine of choice. ���Google is great, but I think you still have to run multiple search queries to get that right answer. If Bing can change that, I will surely shift my search engine,��� he said.

When Steve Ballmer, Microsoft���s chief executive was interviewed by ET earlier this month, he had said that his company would focus on providing the right answers to search queries. ���I can���t speak for Indian languages, but in English, average search query is 2.2 words because people have seen that if you type longer, you get worse answers.

Is there an opportunity for innovation here ��� I think so,��� Mr Ballmer had said. ���Almost half of all queries never answer somebody���s questions. So, 50% of time you don���t get what you are looking for ��� that���s interesting.���