Pogue on Bing: Not Bad, Not Google
The New York Times‘ personal technology columnist David Pogue published his review of Microsoft’s new search engine Bing today and compared some of its features to what Google provides. Pogue gives a pretty good review to the new Google attacker, although he makes it clear that it still falls short of the market dominator.
The most surprising part of the article to me was how much these search engines can do that I didn’t know about. I usually only use Google for searching, but even then I am not searching so much as using it as a shortcut. If I want to quickly look up (for example) how many Grand Slam finals former tennis player Todd Martin made, I would look it up on wikipedia by typing in “todd martin wiki” into my Google search bar within Mozilla (I use Mozilla at work, Safari at home). By doing this, I’ll get a direct link to Todd Martin’s page on wikipedia and I will learn that he made two finals, one in 1994 at the Australian Open, where he lost to Pete Sampras 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4, and then at the 1999 U.S. Open, where he lost to Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2. I do this instead of going to wikipedia.org and searching “Todd Martin;” it doesn’t sound hard, but it’s easier with the Google search bar.
Instead, thanks to Pogue’s article, I learned that:
For example, if you search for a celebrity’s name, that space offers an attractive table of common-sense links: News, Movies, Quotes, Biography and Images. When you search for a sports team, you see Schedule, Tickets, Stadium, History and Wallpaper. When you search for a medical condition, that table offers Causes, Remedies, Treatment, Prognosis and News.
I had no idea that this was all available through Bing. And not only that, but:
When you search for a flight, a similar table offers the cheapest fare (“$259 JFK>LAX”) and links to other deals. A prominent icon tells you whether prices are about to go up, down or stay the same. That detail is brought to you by Farecast.com, which Microsoft bought last year for $115 million.
And finally, movies and maps:
Google is still way ahead on other kinds of searches, like movie showtimes: You get a complete table of nearby movies, complete with trailers, reviews and even links to IMDB.com (the Internet movie database).
Google also wins with maps and driving directions; it offers features like Street View (actual photos along your route) and the ability to drag the colored route line to alternative roadways with your mouse (to avoid a traffic jam or take a favorite shortcut).
On the other hand, Bing wins on traffic searches (such as “traffic nyc”), where you get a color-coded map of current traffic speeds without having to dig. It also excels with company name searches; the 800 number for customer service appears right in the results list.
What I find so weird is that I had no idea these search engines provided so much information that seems quite relevant for any search that I do. Will I start using search engines more often for this type of stuff? Probably not. But it’s nice to know that I can if I want to.
Finally, Pogue points to a rather cool site that compares the two search giants: Bing vs. Google, a fun little website that shows you the differences when searching the two engines. Below is a screenshot after searching for “Costa Rican hotels” (click on the picture for a clearer view):
