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@JohnCz: I guess the question remains what www.live.com will be used for. Either for Windows...
–damaster
re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!

Has anybody not seen the videos of Bing? It's practically is Live Search, but with a new...
–quikboy
re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!

I really want to find that Star Trek parody :(
–Alber1690
re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!

Woz-Bing! Apple Co-Founder a "Big Fan" of Microsoft's New Search Engine: finance...
–lbastie
re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!

Here's what I'm worried about, I don't give a damn about the name, brand confusion...
–surilamin
re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!

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LiveSide - News blog

The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!

Posted May 28 2009, 11:26 AM by Sunshine with 13 comment(s)

BingLogo Steve Ballmer just announced Microsoft’s newest search offering on the D7 stage. He introduced it by showing a video, a Star Trek parody called “A bold search for a new name.” The video runs over Microsoft’s chronic re-naming of its search engine. And there it is: the new name is “Bing.”


D7 Video: Microsoft's Ballmer and Walt Mossberg

Why Bing? Obviously we needed a better name, says Ballmer. “We needed a name that says this is all about search.” Ballmer doesn’t seem to really know. “I’m not the creative guy, here …. short mattered … people like to ‘verb up’ … works globally, doesn’t have negative connotations.”

There were some trademark challenges, as we here at LiveSide reported too. Bing Crosby, apparently was not an issue. Those challenges were overcome, so here it is: BING!

Microsoft designed Bing as a “Decision Engine” to provide customers with intelligent search tools to help them simplify tasks and make more informed decisions, from simple decisions like choosing the fastest route to get home to more complex ones like researching a product purchase or planning a trip (Maps, Cashback, Encarta, Farecast). Bing also includes the technology Microsoft acquired when it purchased Powerset, as planned.

Bing will begin to roll out over the coming days and will be fully deployed worldwide on Wednesday, June 3.

The new brand portfolio will include the following changes to existing Microsoft programs:
- Microsoft’s mapping platform, Virtual Earth, will now be branded as Bing Maps for Enterprise. More information can be found here.
- Technology from Microsoft’s April 2008 acquisition of Farecast is now a central part of Bing Travel.
- Microsoft’s popular cashback program, now dubbed Bing cashback, with more than 850 merchants and more than 17 million products available, will be fully integrated into the Bing Shopping experience.

The D7 Interview with Steve Ballmer is still going on is now fully available. We’ll have the video up on here as soon as we can. Video is up now too, unfortunately the Star Trek parody isn’t in it :(

You can also find out more about Bing at DiscoverBing.com/behindbing.

PressPass - Microsoft’s New Search at Bing.com Helps People Make Better Decisions
Previous articles about Kumo/Bing

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Ogden2k wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 11:42 AM

Bing Earth, are you serious? Why change the name. Bing is such a foolish name.

What else are they going to ruin? Bing Mail? Xbox Bing? I may just move to GMail if this happens. :|

Ogden2k wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 11:47 AM

My last comment was directed to the name; however the actual search engine itself looks interesting: www.discoverbing.com/.../productGuide.aspx

rb1385 wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 11:49 AM

I hope it works but it sure sounds like a dumb name to me...

samzbest wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 12:23 PM

I really think it can make a difference seeing the pics and if it does aftera couple of montsh stay in the minds of people it could be a well of time to aquire yahoo search

here is my pictorial review of this

technoratisam.blogspot.com/.../microsoft-bing-complete-reviewwith.html

foaf wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 1:38 PM

This is good. Because...

We all love Windows Live (by default of being on liveside you do :) but MSFT got confused by launching all online services under the Windows Live umbrella. Since then it's tried to seperate apps from search, ie Windows Live and Live Search.

This has been too confusing for consumers, even though it makes sense in a logical naming convention kind of way.

Step in a new brand name, and consolidate a few services and the seperation is complete. Windows Live is the online apps of Windows and Bing is its own search engine, free of Windows Live wave 3.4 headers etc.

Admitedly Bing Maps does sound a bit 'Yahoo!' to me, but as long as they rid themselves of multimap in the UK and focus solely on a single global brand of Bing Maps I will be happy.

ProSieben wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 1:44 PM

the name sounds cheap. Now I will never use the Microsoft Search if the name does not change. Bing is ugly

JohnCz wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 2:02 PM

@foaf, you pretty much said everything I wanted to say.

It was necessary...consumers saw Live as a portal for a bunch of things besides search.  Live is a bit to generic for a name.  Obviously this would have been more transparent had they done this a year ago before Wave 3 launch.  However it is much better they do so now when they are still at 8% "search" marketshare then at 15% for example.

As for Windows Live...I don't think this changes a thing.  Only that www.live.com probably will be a portal site for consumers to learn about Windows Live and Office Live.  That is something that is sorely missing and not adequately served by download.live.com.

Khristopher wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 2:24 PM

First of all... the name. What a stupid name.

Just what Microsoft really needs, yet another product with a new name to confuse people more.

Also, shouldn't Steve Ballmer know a little bit more information about the product his company is releasing when announcing a product? He comes off as such a loser to me.

I won't comment on the new product itself until I've tried it. I have a feeling though, I won't be using it more than a handful of times.

surilamin wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 2:40 PM

Here's what I'm worried about, I don't give a damn about the name, brand confusion will happen...but with all the cool new features shown on Bing, who say Google won't just copy them...

People use google not because its the best search engine, but because its habitual.

lbastie wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 3:24 PM

Woz-Bing! Apple Co-Founder a "Big Fan" of Microsoft's New Search Engine:

finance.yahoo.com/.../Woz-Bing!-Apple-Co-Founder-a-%22Big-Fan%22-of-Microsofts-New-Search-Engine

CARLSBAD, CALIF. - Microsoft's new search engine Bing was unveiled Thursday and can already boast about a rousing endorsement from an unexpected source: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

"That was the most astounding software demo I've every seen," Wozniak tells Tech Ticker after seeing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Bing at the All Things Digital Conference here.

Alber1690 wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 5:26 PM

I really want to find that Star Trek parody :(

quikboy wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Thu, May 28 2009 10:50 PM

Has anybody not seen the videos of Bing? It's practically is Live Search, but with a new look and different layout. I didn't see many new "features" that made it different.

Bing is an ok name (compared to the yucky Kumo), but there are definitely better ones. The logo is horrendous though! No sense of design at all. And I'm not too keen on the UI of the search engine.

I like how Microsoft is focusing on making the engine more info-oriented at least, than just millions of hits on a bland page.

damaster wrote re: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag, It’s…Bing!
on Fri, May 29 2009 12:51 AM

@JohnCz: I guess the question remains what www.live.com will be used for. Either for Windows Live Home (very likely) or the information site currently at www.windowslive.com/explore .

I wonder what this means for My.Live.com which is supposed to be managed by the Live Search/Bing team. Abandoned? Move back to Windows Live? I actually wish that to move back to the www.live.com domain - but significantly upgraded of course.

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