Bing outage as Google users convert
Microsoft trailed massively behind Google with its search efforts for many years. There was just something missing, be it a memorable name, a brand that sticks, the look and feel, or the functionality. Whatever it was, the launch of Bing earlier this year put a lot of things right. Google users are now converting to Bing, although that trend may stop if outages such as the one experienced last night continue.
Google is an integral part of the Web and has been for many years. It’s often the first site people visit on the Web, both the first time they connect and every time afterwards. It’s correctly referred to as the gateway of the Internet, with its ease of use and the power to transport you to all four corners of the Web.
However, there are alternatives and have been for years. And Bing is Microsoft’s latest attempt at toppling the mighty Google. The problem is informing people of the alternatives and persuading them that they are often as good, or better, at signposting the billions of Web pages now present on the Internet.
According to Digital Inspiration, Microsoft recently hired a qualitative research firm to find out whether people could be actively turned from Google to Bing. So, 15 Google users were recruited and told to use Bing exclusively for a week. There was to be no Google but also no reason given for this, with Microsoft’s part in the experiment kept hidden until the end.
Amazingly, 10 out of the 15 test subjects ended the week indicating that they would be sticking with Bing over Google. This proves a theory I and many others have had for a while that people generally just use what they know and trust on the Web, ignoring alternatives if they feel them to be unnecessary. This experiment also backs up the results of the Blind Search Test.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, Bing isn’t quite in a position to challenge Google for the search crown yet. Bing experienced an outage on Thursday night between approx 9:25 p.m. and 10:10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Forty-five minutes may not sound like much but imagine if the Google homepage went down for that long and think again.
Brilliantly, Tony Chor from the Bing team tweeted that the service was back up by quipping, “Bing is back. You can all stop using Google now.”
December 4th, 2009
Well at least we all know that Bing is powered by Microsoft products as evidenced by its recent crashing.
Whats next, The Blue Screen Of Bing (BSOB)?
December 7th, 2009
I suspect that in the last couple of weeks, there has been a upsurge in use of Bing over to Google because of the latter insistence on blocking autosuggestion for “Climategate”.
Try typing it into Google to see what happens.
I hate conspiracy theories, but this patently visible knee jerk reaction to control news by Google is a bit too Big Brother-ish for me to want to ever go back in a hurry.
Little wonder China was so accommodating to Google.
Now with Climategate, we have had a taste of what Google’s agenda is. And it doesn’t bode well for freedom of speech.
Aqua Fyre
December 8th, 2009
@Aqua Fyre
Maybe I have arrived here too late to see what you referring to.
When I tried entering “climategate” it suggested “climate guatemala” as an alternative – entirely reasonable as both are legitimate words, where as “climategate” is a contrived term invented for and by the media in regard to one particular incident.
The list of result was certainly comprehensive enough to ensure I could learn more about “climategate” than I could ever wish to know. Doesn’t look much like censorship to me….
December 9th, 2009
Contrived word or not…so was the term Watergate.
The question is whether or not Google is behaving as a censoring gatekeeper.
The role of Google is NOT to censor news. At least that is what they say in their 10 points statement of objectives. Its job is to transmit the news impartially.
This issue of Google actively stopping news is not being brought up by just me, but by reputable groups like AIM. (Accuracy In Media). If they have an issue with it, then believe me, there must be a genuine concern.
Still, here is the litmus test.
Enter “Climategate” into Google & Bing.
In Google you don’t get autosuggestion and you only get about 30 million responses.
In Bing, you get nearly double that number of responses : 50,000,000
So which is it. Bing is over inflating or Google is deleting ?
Incidentally, independent bloggers have confirmed that Google was autosuggesting “climategate” within a few days of it breaking. Now however, this function has been blocked.
How could that possibly happen in view of the fact that autosuggestion works in response to a terms search index popularity.
Climate Guam gets 2 million hits & is “autosuggested”
while
Climategate which gets 30,000,000 gets nothing ?
Come on…who are you trying to kid..
Would it have anything to do with the fact that Al Gore is on Google’s Board of trustees ?
Would it have anything to do with the fact that the two original owners & directors of Google are constantly flaunting their ‘green’ credentials ?
Or are you just going to rest on a feeble tissue of semantics?
Aqua Fyre