Big Bing Theory

“But It’s Not Google” is the cheeky acronym some in the tech community have given to Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing. Microsoft has spent $80 million dollars in advertising, hundreds of millions in acquisitions (by acquiring Powerset last year) and over a year in development on a new campaign aimed at supplanting Google as the kings of search. Unfortunately, every article I’ve read in the past 48 hours about the service simply stresses that point (that they want to disrupt Google). Almost no one is talking about how much better, different Bing is, or how noteworthy the product itself is. A look at the two screenshots below will show you why…

Google

Bing

It’s just not that different.

Now, there’s probably a strategic reason for this. It’s the same reason why there’s always a Burger King right across the street from a McDonald’s or why Budlight and Miller Light cans look similar. It’s not always a bad thing to be mistaken for your competitor and it seems like Microsoft is attempting to offer a similar search experience to Google, so that people switching for the first time feel comfortable. Right now, I can’t use the service (all I get is a ‘coming soon’ page) but from what I’ve seen in articles like this one (which is actually a glowing review), I have no desire to switch. The problem for me is that there simply is enough differentiating Bing from Google or even Yahoo’s search. And without a competitive advantage, they’re really right back to where they started with the failed MSN Search and the mildly more successful Live Search. Will Microsoft’s strategy to combat Google work? I’m completely indifferent, and if other people feel the same, that doesn’t bode well for Microsoft, at all.

Right now another four-letter word for search comes to mind. Cuil.