Will it be Bing.com

We should all know by now that Microsoft has been talking up the launch of their 'new' search engine that was being tested under the codename 'Kumo'. In fact reports indicate there will be a lot more 'talking up' as they plan to throw a budget of $100 million for an ad campaign to help launch Bing.com (it is not confirmed that it will be bing.com but sources and many articles within the industry seem to think this is the name).

Firstly, lets take a look at what bing means (always a clanger in there somewhere)

1) Bing is a Unix program which is essentially a ping with added network throughput measurements

OK not bad. At least it is an on-theme meaning (loosley)

2) A slag heap

Hmm not so good

3) Bing is a Chinese term used to describe dough-based Chinese flatbreads

Hmm not bad but not too good either

So no information about why its called BING however PC Mag did have some great ideas such as;

But It's Not Google or Bill It's Not Good (See the full list here)

Whois

So we did a look up and can see that maybe Microsoft just thought "hey lets buy this domain name Bing.Com as its been around since since 1996."

At least they have recently renewed it for 10 more years to avoid any embarassing oversights like forgetting to renew the domain (we all remember that one I am sure). Take a look at the links at the bottom of this page to see the different businesses that operated under bing.com before Microsoft took it over.

Competing with Google

Let's face it Microsoft (and bing.com) are going to need some radical ideas and innovations to even make a small dent in the Google search armour.

Even the industry experts like Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land have their doubts about winning searchers from Google.

"Making something compelling to switch over to would be another thing to do. That's just difficult. There is a lot of room for improvement, but it is not at the crisis point with Google where users feel like they have to switch."

So what do Microsoft know that's different?

Well they have been conducting lots of research into search behaviour and have found some interesting statistics.

1) Although two thirds of people searching via the search engines say they are 'generally' satisfied, less that 40% think that the local search results will provide the information they are seeking.

2) Microsoft evangelist Stefan Weitz looked closely at the data from Live.com and found that the most popular feature in search is actually the back button.

He went on to say that only a quarter of searches return a good result (he is talking on Live.Com) but he goes on to say that if it is the case for Live.Com then it must be similar for Google and Yahoo.

So with all this 'research' will Bing.Com provide a better search experience?

Well we will find out very soon as it is rumoured to debut at the All Things D Conference is San Diego on Thursday.

And finally...

site:bing.com brings up some interesting pages ???

or

Want to see some archived versions of www.bing.com

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