5 ms·

Mary-Jo Foley explains why Microsoft won't dump Bing

18 points by msredmond 15y ago

jdp23 15y ago
"Microsoft sees Bing as more than a standalone Web search engine -- it's a key selling point for the Windows Phone 7 platform." kenjackson made a similar point in our conversation a few days ago at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2794209 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2794209
kevin_morrill 15y ago
Foley hits on a key point of integration. The other key factor for Microsoft is the company's history and view of perseverance. Windows took 3 versions to get right. Word was an underdog to Word Perfect for years. Excel lagged behind Lotus. Outlook/Exchange struggled to catch up to Lotus Notes for ages. Windows Server and SQL Server were laughed at when the company tried to enter the enterprise market. It took a whole generation of consoles for xbox to start beating Playstation. All of them are major cash cows today, and execs know it's because they outlasted the competition and finally found a way to win. Ignoring naysayers is a badge of honor for these guys.
- daeken 15y ago
  Completely agreed with your point and all your examples. However, isn't that how most everyone succeeds? Google, Amazon, AirBnB, Apple (recovery), etc. It's almost always an uphill battle against naysayers.
Aloisius 15y ago
I use Bing as my primary search engine. At some point, I decided that today's Microsoft somehow seemed like a nicer company than Google. And I was hardcore anti-Microsoft for over a decade. Also, the pretty pictures every morning are nice and the search engine performs well.
pkteison 15y ago
I wish Bing was giving me some capability I didn't have before. I don't see how it's going to be this awesomely critical fantastic compelling service if it doesn't. Example: Google wanted to make driving directions better. But they couldn't get any of the companies with driving data to give them a license that let them do what they wanted. So they drove vans all over the freaking world to get the data to replace the existing systems. And now I can get directions to somewhere on my phone, spoken to me, for free, with a photo of my destination at the end of the trip so I can find the right spot, and much higher quality searching and path selection than my previous stand-alone dedicated GPS device. It's awesome, and makes me happy to be alive today every time I use it. Google wanted to make voice search better. So they ran a voice version of Google to gather data for a while, and now my phone's keyboard has a microphone button and it feels like magic. Microsoft wants to... make search better? So they give me a search engine that works like Google's, but with a slightly worse algorithm? I just don't see what new things Bing lets me do that I couldn't do before. Is there anything it can do that will make me jealous of somebody with a windows phone? That's how they can convince me to buy one - make me want something awesome in my life. I haven't seen it yet. Until they find something, it just seems like a money pit.
eli 15y ago
For those who may not know her, Mary-Jo Foley's reports about Microsoft are typically very well sourced.
programminggeek 15y ago
Too bad I don't think users see bing as the value add that MSFT does. Look at it this way, iPhone doesn't have massive search integration that is world beating like Android does and users don't seem to mind. Search is a useful function, but it is not the function you buy a device for. Phones are primarily communication devices, so making a killer communication device seems like a good idea. Sometimes you want to track down content - via search in a browser, ok fine bing is useful there. I just don't think anyone buying a phone even thinks about search integration unless they are a nerd. Search is a feature on a phone, not a de facto reason to buy.

18 points by msredmond 15y ago

jdp23 15y ago

"Microsoft sees Bing as more than a standalone Web search engine -- it's a key selling point for the Windows Phone 7 platform." kenjackson made a similar point in our conversation a few days ago at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2794209 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2794209

kevin_morrill 15y ago

Foley hits on a key point of integration. The other key factor for Microsoft is the company's history and view of perseverance. Windows took 3 versions to get right. Word was an underdog to Word Perfect for years. Excel lagged behind Lotus. Outlook/Exchange struggled to catch up to Lotus Notes for ages. Windows Server and SQL Server were laughed at when the company tried to enter the enterprise market. It took a whole generation of consoles for xbox to start beating Playstation. All of them are major cash cows today, and execs know it's because they outlasted the competition and finally found a way to win. Ignoring naysayers is a badge of honor for these guys.

daeken 15y ago
Completely agreed with your point and all your examples. However, isn't that how most everyone succeeds? Google, Amazon, AirBnB, Apple (recovery), etc. It's almost always an uphill battle against naysayers.

Aloisius 15y ago

I use Bing as my primary search engine. At some point, I decided that today's Microsoft somehow seemed like a nicer company than Google. And I was hardcore anti-Microsoft for over a decade. Also, the pretty pictures every morning are nice and the search engine performs well.

pkteison 15y ago

I wish Bing was giving me some capability I didn't have before. I don't see how it's going to be this awesomely critical fantastic compelling service if it doesn't. Example: Google wanted to make driving directions better. But they couldn't get any of the companies with driving data to give them a license that let them do what they wanted. So they drove vans all over the freaking world to get the data to replace the existing systems. And now I can get directions to somewhere on my phone, spoken to me, for free, with a photo of my destination at the end of the trip so I can find the right spot, and much higher quality searching and path selection than my previous stand-alone dedicated GPS device. It's awesome, and makes me happy to be alive today every time I use it. Google wanted to make voice search better. So they ran a voice version of Google to gather data for a while, and now my phone's keyboard has a microphone button and it feels like magic. Microsoft wants to... make search better? So they give me a search engine that works like Google's, but with a slightly worse algorithm? I just don't see what new things Bing lets me do that I couldn't do before. Is there anything it can do that will make me jealous of somebody with a windows phone? That's how they can convince me to buy one - make me want something awesome in my life. I haven't seen it yet. Until they find something, it just seems like a money pit.

eli 15y ago

For those who may not know her, Mary-Jo Foley's reports about Microsoft are typically very well sourced.

programminggeek 15y ago

Too bad I don't think users see bing as the value add that MSFT does. Look at it this way, iPhone doesn't have massive search integration that is world beating like Android does and users don't seem to mind. Search is a useful function, but it is not the function you buy a device for. Phones are primarily communication devices, so making a killer communication device seems like a good idea. Sometimes you want to track down content - via search in a browser, ok fine bing is useful there. I just don't think anyone buying a phone even thinks about search integration unless they are a nerd. Search is a feature on a phone, not a de facto reason to buy.