New Kid in Town

You depend on it. The name itself has become a verb. When you've got a question, you Google it and voila, there's all the information you ever wanted and more. Sometimes so much more that you're overwhelmed.

Maybe you use another search engine occasionally, such as Yahoo or the rapidly fading, Ask.com. But I'll bet you still default back to Google for the regular go-to guy. But, did you ever think that there really isn't much pizazz or sparkle to Google? I mean the web page is a big white sheet with a search word entry field. Most folks don't even go there any more, like Yogi Berra's restaurant that got too popular. They simply have a search entry box on their web home page.

Could be we're missing something and Microsoft wants to convince us that we are. They've rolled out Bing about three days ago and in the coming weeks you'll get deluged with the buzz on Bing.

I've got low resistance to new gadgetry online, so after I read an item in the Wall Street Journal (actual paper version!), I had to look. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I did the Facebook thing about three weeks ago and am about to dump it as a waste of time. I cranked up Wolfram|Alpha and as someone who is inveterately non-technical and number-adverse, I found it not much use for my typical searching. I've studiously avoided Twitter, since I can't make a sentence in less than 140 characters.

What's my verdict on Bing? First impression is that I love it! The results pages morph on almost every search. Some will give you viddie clips and images, all results give you an immediate peekaboo when you mouse over to avoid having to go to non-responsive site options. Big hits will give you a pop-up sub-menu of categories for more detailed results. The more I played the more I discovered. Depth of results for my first half-dozen searches was very parallel to what I get from Google.

The default home page for Bing changes the background picture daily and embedded within the photo you'll find hot spots with info about the scene and links to more information such as how to get there. That's an illustration of what you will find on many photos.

There are dedicated areas that help you focus on specifics such as images, videos, travel arrangements or shopping comparisons. Want to book a flight or a hotel? You might start opting for Bing rather than Expedia. Wanna see last night's episode of your favorite program? Try the video area and you might start dodging YouTube.

Mapping is built in as well. Start zooming in on the USA and you can quickly get to the city block that you live on and a choice of map or aerial view. Want some perspective? Go to the birds-eye shot rather than the pure top-down approach.

Will you miss some of the returns that you might have gotten in Google? Maybe, but I didn't see too much drop-out in my brief fling. Read some reviews and you'll quickly get the usual MS-bashing undertone as the big players hedge against favoring Bing over Google or Yahoo. Can't offend the tall dogs when you've got the company that everyone loves to hate in your focus--even if Bing looks very good.

It's a web-site, not an application. No downloads or special installs required. Simply go to bing.com and take a look. I'll be fiddling with it for a while and may find a new best friend. I'll let you know.