I remember when reading a biography of the Google story how the Google team fretted when they had to release their first financial data. They were worried, correctly, that when they disclosed the money they were making, they would attract competitors. They were dead on. Ever since Google effectively killed off the first generation of search engines, and began its path of constant improvement, everyone has been trying to catch up. Microsoft, frantically.
It was to our great surprise, the technology community, that Microsoft’s latest search engine, Bing, was actually pretty damn good. I took the time to take a blind search test, and shocked myself by picking Bing about 60% of the time. This from a Google devotee.
Why Microsoft is doing this is quite obvious, Google’s money from their dominance in search allows them to do all sorts of things that eat at the very base of Microsoft: Windows. From Windows Mobile, to Vista, to Office, Google has launched competing products that are moving in (slowly) on the dominance of Windows, and the Microsoft world. Via search. Do not think for a moment that Google Docs has paid for itself. AdWords paid for it, and we all know it.
Bing is the start of an answer to the Google hegemony in search, and the nexus of possibly a new age of search, where there are in fact two search engines that are worth using. Using Yahoo or Live to search a few months back was akin to running with a weight voluntarily strapped to your chest. You were holding yourself back. Perhaps this is not true with Bing.
With Bing, if MSFT can continue their momentum by improving on an already impressive first offering, and actually begin to nick market share off of Google, the world will change. Gone will be the days when Google was so far ahead of the competition that in fact they could do nothing and still watch their search engine market share rise. Google did not sit on its haunches, but it appears now that Microsoft was running even faster to catch up.
MSFT will not sit back and let Google use their Search monies to attack their dominance of the personal computer market. Bing is the first salvo in a new wave from Microsoft, it seems. Windows 7 to fend of Apple, along with the Zune HD and sexier PC’s from their manufacturing teams; Natal to fight back against the Wii, keeping the Xbox alive and well as a console; and Bing with other web services to fight against other companies that are pure internet plays. The only area where the ‘Soft is falling behind seems to be mobile. WinMo is a decrepit platform with little hope of salvation without a full rewrite.
Who knows, maybe the Zune GUI (which I love) will be transplanted into a phone soon. Either way, Bing is the direction that Microsoft will be heading in for the coming year. Look out world.
