'Microsoft Should Scrap Bing and Call it Microsoft Search' (cnet.com) 206
Chris Matyszczyk, writing for CNET: Does anyone really have a deep, abiding respect for the Bing brand? Somehow, if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke. That doesn't mean the service itself is to be derided. It does suggest, though, that the brand name doesn't incite passion or excesses of reverence. The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship. It's gained respect. Especially when the company showed off its Surface Studio in 2016 and made Apple's offerings look decidedly bland. Where once Microsoft was a joke in an Apple ad, now it's a symbol of a resurgent company that's trying new things and sometimes even succeeding. The funny thing about Bing is that it's not an unsuccessful product -- at least not as unsuccessful as some might imagine. Last year, Redmond said it has a 9 percent worldwide search market share, enjoying a 25 percent share in the UK, 18 percent in France and 17 percent in Canada. And look at the US. Microsoft says it has a 33 percent share here. Wouldn't it be reasonable to think that going all the way with Microsoft branding and letting Bing drift into the retirement home for funny names might be a positive move?
why? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:why? (Score:4, Insightful)
While I think the name Bing is SHIT. renaming it to Microsoft Search would only confuse the average user for no benefit whatsoever.
Which is my most users call it "DuckDuckGo"
Re:why? (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree about the confusion. Also, let's apply the "Google" test to it.
"You don't know what this is? Let me bing it for you."
"You don't know what this is? Let me 'Microsoft Search' it for you."
The second one doesn't roll off the tongue as much.
In any case, to say that Microsoft has improved its reputation means that this CNET contributor is either completely out of touch with current reality, or is being paid to shill for Microsoft.
Personally, I've never hated Microsoft is as much as I do now. [latimes.com]
I hope Microsoft and its lawyers go to hell!
Re:why? (Score:4, Interesting)
And on the other hand, here's a real conversation that I was privileged to observe:
Alice: "How did people navigate before Google Maps?"
Bob: "Uh... maps?"
Alice: "No, I mean before Google Maps."
There's something to be said for successfully claiming a generic word. Like "Windows".
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if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke
That's actually true in my case, literally the only time I've heard Bing used is as a joke, "let me bing that for you" (laughter) and then they'll Google it, or DDG it, or whatever. Having your brand exist as a joke means you probably need to fix it.
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if ever I've heard the brand name being used, it seems to be in the context of a joke
That's actually true in my case, literally the only time I've heard Bing used is as a joke, "let me bing that for you" (laughter) and then they'll Google it, or DDG it, or whatever. Having your brand exist as a joke means you probably need to fix it.
Lately google has been less accurate than bing. Anything search starting with "+torrent +magnet ..." gets no relevant results on google but has relevant results on bing.
I've also noticed with google certain searches silently default to americanised english no matter what is entered, and results using the original keywords are ommitted. "Serialised data objects" gets turned into "Serialized data objects", and pages with the UK spelling are not returned even though they are more relevant than the US-spelling
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If they don't get their shit together I'm writing my own spider and starting my own damn search engine to find the things I am looking for on the internet.
Too late, someone's beaten you to it [booble.com].
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Anything search starting with "+torrent +magnet ..." gets no relevant results on google but has relevant results on bing.
What country are you in? For me (VPN endpoint in various EU countries) I use Google to search for torrents all the time. I usually don't bother with the + symbol though, just the word "torrent" or "magnet".
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That's not "less accurate" so much as "intentionally removed results"
You can browse Google DMCAs online.
https://transparencyreport.goo... [google.com]
3 BILLION URLS have been requested removed. You can be damn sure torrent sites are on that list.
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In any case, to say that Microsoft has improved its reputation means that this CNET contributor is either completely out of touch with current reality, or is being paid to shill for Microsoft.
Not to mention that their market share figures seem inflated. I can't speak for other countries - but if their share in Canada was as high as 17%, surely I'd know at least one person who uses Bing. I don't. Besides, their OS defaults to Edge or IE, and THOSE default to Bing. So even if their figures were true, that would hardly be an indication of an improved reputation. In fact, it seems rather embarrassing.
Maybe those figures aren't based on search traffic volume. Maybe they're based on the number of peop
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It may be because Edge/Bing is used anytime a search is run from the Windows search bar, which is probably my biggest gripe about Win 10. I'd use Cortana if it would fire up DDG.
Re: why? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm gonna Bing your mom.
Idk if it works for a search verb though...
I do think it has better porn search than Google. Can I get an amen?
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Yeah, but we all know how those conversations would really go down :)
"You don't know what this is? Let me google it with bing for you."
"You don't know what this is? Let me google it with Microsoft Search for you."
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I interpreted it as a backhanded compliment.
Remember that even Windows 10 was mostly done on Ballmer's watch, even though it was released on Nadella's watch. After Ballmer, Microsoft couldn't exactly fall much further in everyone's estimation...
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The Microsoft brand, on the other hand, has become much stronger under Satya Nadella's stewardship. It's gained respect.
That has to be written by a shill. Windows 8 and 10 lost whatever 'respect' they think they had left.
The anti-Windows 10 cauterwauling is mostly a Slashdot and niche thing. While Metro and Windows 8 had *major* issues, Windows 10 is doing quite well and is actually a pretty stable OS. It's probably my favorite experience I've had with Windows and reliability since back in the Win2kPro days.
Of course, tech users aren't the hugest drivers... Although important, it's really "consumer" mindshare that would be the determining factor. Anecdotally, non-techies seem to appreciate and be aware of "Microsoft" more t
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...he should have known he was playing with fire by making those pirated discs, even if he did it for a noble purpose.
No, you didn't read the article carefully enough. Please try again.
Those were backup disks. They didn't contain a Microsoft key and they couldn't function without a valid Microsoft key.
For old windows computers, the Microsoft key is located on a sticker on the computer itself. And the backup OS can be downloaded legally and for free from Dell (and other vendors). Then the user just needs to plop the disk in and enter the valid Microsoft key that came with the computer.
Your comment regarding Linux is well
Dictionary (Score:2)
The dictionary definition of bing:
A heap or pile
I want to ask Microsoft, "your search engine is a heaping pile of *what*, exactly?"
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Microsoft is the nerdy kid, who doesn't embrace his nerdiness and tries to act cool, without realizing they are missing key components that makes cool kids cool.
But like Microsoft Bing. after you go down that path it is difficult to go back (often because you had ditched all your nerdy friends)
Back in the 1990's Microsoft wasn't cool, however it was popular because it was one of the few companies that had what people wanted. After that had changed it was dropped because it was never a product that people w
easy (Score:4, Insightful)
They figured "Microsoft Search" would associate it with something negative, while Bing would be neutral.
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... 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...
Then they should have called it "Chandler". They could have used that instead of Cortana. Not only would they be differentiating themselves by having a male voice for their assistant, they would also have a single name by which to call all of their assistant's functions, just as Google does.
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... 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...
Then they should have called it "Chandler". They could have used that instead of Cortana. Not only would they be differentiating themselves by having a male voice for their assistant, they would also have a single name by which to call all of their assistant's functions, just as Google does.
IIRC, male voices are harder to hear over background noise; you have to raise the volume. Female voices (slightly higher pitched than male voices) can be heared at a lower volume.
Re: easy (Score:3, Interesting)
Bing is a recursive acronym: Bing Is Not Google. BING!
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I think I have my new pretend fact for upsetting my super-devout linux buddies.
Bing means "Bing is not GNU"
figure a fake Gates quote to use with one of those "inspiring quote" images of Bill , and theres an object de art of perfect troll spam
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I always thought they wanted something short that people would associate to search like they do Google. Google has 2 syllables, Bing has one. One has to think like a marketdroid.
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Not sure. Always wondered if 'Bing' was not chosen because 1. the domain was free, 2. the domain name was short, 3. "Bing" is the famous and most liked character of Friends ...
It clearly wasn't #3. Noone liked Bing he was the sarcastic, annoying, member of the group... just like the search engine named after him... ahhhh... that's why they called it Bing.
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It was orginally MSN Search but they lost too google because they were being massive dicks and loading the pretty much whole first page and often more with irrelevant paid for searches, they just got worse and worse, so loser name, associated with a looser search engine. Lets not kid around B in Bing for Ballmer, it was ego nothing more and nothing less.
Besides they just can't take it back, NOOOOOOOO else how could I mock them with this, keeping in mind Balmy Ballmer did sell insurace before he conned Gate
Bing Video Search is the best porn site (Score:5, Informative)
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The main search is ok, but the video search is the best porn congregator there is. Searches everything, hover to preview the video, etc. Microsoft nailed it.
I see what you did there...
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Re:Bing Video Search is the best porn site (Score:5, Funny)
"Microsoft Wank"
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So clearly Microsoft should team with Lopez and Marx and call it "Avenue Q".
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LOL.
That's been superseded by this week's scandal.
Maybe it should be "Stormy McDougal" - at least for the next few days.
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Knowing what little I know of the history and politics, a more likely hypothesis is that Angular wants you to stop using AngularJS and has SEO'd itself to encourage you to do this.
If Bing returns more AngularJS results, all that proves is that the Angular developers figure nobody interested in their framework uses Bing.
Not as bad as.... (Score:2)
âoeBixbyâ. Now there is a horrible name IMHO.
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should have said "Bixby." That will teach me not to post from my phone.
I google everything with Bing now. (Score:2, Funny)
bada Bing
Bing is fine (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't find the name to be bad. Bing as a search engine has evolved and has been steadily improving to the point that it suffices for 95% of my searches. It clearly has become a viable alternative to those who want to de-google their lives.
Those who deride the name probably have another agenda.
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I remember when Google first arrived on the scene. My first thought was "what a stupid name!". Think about it... Google? It made me faintly nauseous. I'm not sure Bing is any worse.
In any case, with Google's success it became cool to have double-oh's in your software's stupid-ass, nonsense, meaningless names, as if some SuccessMagic would rub off of Google: Ooyala, Joomla, Moodle, Hadoop, and on and on. I have taken a vow never to use any software with 'oo' in its name. Including Google.
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I think you're talking about googol (googolplex). The name google was an unintentional misspelling of googol.
Re:Bing is fine (Score:4, Insightful)
Bing works in China. Google is blocked. That should tell you something.
If you want to de-google then it doesn't make much sense to run to someone just as bad. Try DuckDuckGo or similar perhaps.
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It means that Microsoft is willing to share data with the Chinese government, and to implement their filters (you can't turn safe search off). As you allude to, Microsoft knows that this information is used for oppression.
Google has a lot more to lose as well. All the Android phones in China have the Google services removed because they don't work, and replaced with local ones like Baidu. Microsoft's mobile OS is dead anyway.
Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have to take issue with basically everything positive said about Microsoft in TFA.
I've been continually losing respect regarding Microsoft's ability to put out a quality product in just about any product space. The only thing I can really say about that isn't totally negative about any of their products is that they haven't made Office (not Office 365) worse.
If I was to look at the number of people who use Bing, I would immediately break them down into two groups:
1) People who's work organizations won't allow them to change any system settings or add any software (including Chrome).
2) People who are too stupid to specify Google as their default search engine.
Cue the ACs that feel that I'm unfairly maligning Microsoft...
Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Have to agree. There's not a lot of positive images with the Microsoft brand name. The brand name most definitely has not improved under new leadership. I think this CNET guy has drunk too much kool-aid.
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I use Bing on some of my computers, purely because it's not Google. None of my systems uses Google as the default search engine. Google is not that far ahead anymore. The alternatives are useful.
Re:Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad? (Score:4, Interesting)
3. People that use bing because it pays them. With the Bing rewards points for simply using it, I rack up enough to get at least $5 gift card a month and sometimes 2. Yes, I'm a penny pinching cheap S.O.B. and one of these days I'm gonna win one of their sweepstakes as well.
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It's worth noting that most of the people who do bing rewards (which incidentally did switch to the microsoft rewards brand recently) are using google for all their real searches, and are just mashing the keyboard into bing. I know that's what I do. And that can account for potentially the majority of bing searches since they incentivise far more searches than a normal person would perform in a day. Bing's market share is people who mash their keyboards for money, and then go do all their legit searches via
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I tired to find out what I can spend these Microsoft Reward Points on. Unfortunately the front page of their web site is information-free and the more info link (https://rewards.microsoft.com/explore/error?page=ms-rewards-faq) is down.
Seems like you can only spend it on XBOX stuff, and I don't have any of that. Can I get free Microsoft products like Windows with it?
And is it compatible with random fake search generator add-ons?
Re: Did /. at least get paid for this Microsoft Ad (Score:2)
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Apparently you've never heard of Windows 10.
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That's not scrapping, then (Score:2)
Microsoft Should Scrap Bing and Call it Microsoft Search
Scrap it and rename it? Seems a bit wasteful - unless what was meant was "don't scrap it at all."
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If they are planning to scrap it, they could rename it to anything. I vote for fartscrabbler.
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Have you fartscrabbled that to make sure someone isn't using it already?
Missed opportunity (Score:5, Funny)
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Fuggeddaboutit
- Edward "Greasy Wheel" Cordinani Esq. Representing one Anthony Soprano
Why not call it the 'Information Directory' (Score:2)
its just msn (Score:3)
Its the same kind of cluttered and portalesque search engine that was MSN and yahoo and all the others. Google went that way so i switched to duck duck go a few years ago due in part to no tracking and its slimed down no nonsense interface. I mean tahts why we all started using google in the first place right?
Google maps on the other hand i do continue to use because openstreetmap just doesn't do it for me personally. Very frequently, typing in part of an address gets me somewhere else in the world entirely. Especially if the street is also a province, or country name. It gets real confused.
So in the end, the right tool that fits you for the right job. What is bings niche market? what was MSN's? making more money for microsoft and because they need "something" to fill a gap. So it doesnt have to succeed, that would just be a bonus.
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I mean tahts why we all started using google in the first place right?
Altavista started that trend.
Re: its just msn (Score:2)
Altavista was still the best search engine available at the time google was released. For the amount of conent, and lack of barriers to that content. Also, the search operators available. Being able to force the inclusion of a specific phrase or keyword while simultaneously excluding another, was revolutionary for search in the late 90's. Google's own search operators eventually surpassed Altavistas, and the amount of content they had indexed. For a while I went between the two as they produced wildy d
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+-host:
+-domain:
+-link:
+-url:
title:
image:
Altavista search was really good for their times.
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I wrote this 17 years ago:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040301010936/http://darkaxis.com:80/devel/c/network/http/deepweb/deepweb.c
Got me in trouble with the Naval Surface Warfare center... it seems they had some sensitive stuff out on port 80 back then.. and I hit it at random.
Anyhow, I wish I would have kept going and developed it into a full fledged spider. There is so much content that never sees the light of day because it's not linked to a site with a high enough "page rank" for it to be deemed worth
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slimed down no nonsense interface. I mean tahts why we all started using google in the first place right?
People like me switched to Google because it worked better than anything else out there. The clean interface was just a bonus. Do you remember how crappy most search engines were back then?
Bing is a recursive acronym (Score:5, Interesting)
Have you ever noticed this? B - I - N - G - Bing Is Not Google.
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Have you ever noticed this? B - I - N - G - Bing Is Not Google.
It's also a marketing fail. You know what is really good at getting people to stop using their favorite search engine? Reinforcing that you're not the same.
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Bing still serves pictures - score one for MS. (Score:5, Insightful)
A few days ago here on Slashdot was an article about Google changing the way it handles image searches. Due to a dispute with a commercial entity (Getty Images if I recall correctly), Google was no longer going to serve the full image when you clicked on the thumbnail, just take you to the origin website. It would have made much more sense to just offer content owners a way to opt out of having their images displayed. The Slashdot replies are full of sensible comments and insights.
This weekend, Google made the switch. Now, you can no longer preview an image in Google, not from any source. For me, doing a lot of graphic and imagery intensive work, that was one of Google's most important features. Now suddenly, Google sucks for that purpose. I just tried doing image searches on Bing, and they still work properly, I can see the full image.
Brand loyalty has nothing to do with anything. Getting the job done is everything. So now, when I need to find images, hello Bing, get lost Google. MS should find a way to capitalize on that. Starting with a name change wouldn't be a bad idea.
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Problem solved, 1 extra click.
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Works, thanks very much.
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You can still drag and drop an image to search by it.
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One other area where the Bing image search is slightly superior is that you can search for more kinds of licence than on Google. Google is just free / not free, but Bing lets you select two types of Creative Commons, Public domain and a variety of others.
Re:Bing still serves pictures - Update (Score:2)
Feb 19, now 2 or 3 days after Google switched the way they serve images, and guess what.
There are already two extensions at the Chrome store that restore the View Image functionality.
https://chrome.google.com/webs... [google.com]
https://chrome.google.com/webs... [google.com]
Great idea! (Score:2)
The URL can be www.microsoftsearch.com That's convenient. Great idea!
Pot, meet kettle (Score:2)
I agree. But then again Matyszczyk doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?
"Live" (Score:3)
Microsoft abandoned the "Live" branding in favor of "Bing", and I personally believe this is one of their all time greatest fuckups. Google has the "Play" branding, with "Play Store", "Play Games", "Play Music", "Play Videos" and others. Microsoft's "Live" brand was very similar, and especially with the onset of live streaming that we're seeing, they would have easily had a good and simplistic marketing campaign. Instead, we have Google (YouTube), Facebook (ugh...), and Amazon (Twitch) corning the market currently, with MS not giving fuck all to what could have been the highlight of their business.
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one of their all time greatest fuckups
I dunno man, the competition is pretty strong.
- Windows ME
- Windows Vista
- Zune
- Plays For Sure (except on Zune)
- ActiveX
- Windows firewall defaults to off
- XBOX 360 Red Ring of Death
- MICROS~1
Whatever they do, the past participle (Score:2)
We say "I have googled", but what is the past participle of "to bing", is it "bung"?
Come to think of it -- what is the past and pp of DuckDuckGo -- DuckDuckWent and DuckDuckGone?
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I keep thinking when someone says "I binged that TV show" that they searched for it on Bing...
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DuckDuckShallHaveGone.
why not call it "search" (Score:2)
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Too late, CBS owns https://www.search.com/ [search.com]
Many may think Microsoft Search is Windows Help (Score:3, Informative)
Bad idea. Bing is unique and less encumbered by preconceived notions as to what it is.
Many would think Microsoft Search is primarily intended for finding information about Windows, Office 365, etc. Then there's the trust and bias factors to consider. Bing is a more neutral name. Maybe renaming is a good idea, but not to Microsoft Search.
Personally, I find Bing to work well and if Microsoft further improves it, I'll use it more. Many others likely feel the same way. Google results get worse and worse, intentionally to drive page views and ad clicks. Hoping Bing steps up their game.
Bing sucks (Score:2)
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I was about to post this exact same link. For me it's the main reason I can't take the name "Bing" seriously.
It won't... (Score:2)
Polish a turd (Score:2)
You know just rebranding your shit to "Le Shité" doesn't change the fact it's still shit.
And when you can't find what you're looking for (Score:2)
And when you can't find what you're looking for then you go to Microsoft ReSearch to try again? And then you go to Google and never come back.
I suppose it's time to resurface this ... (Score:2)
You have to earn respect (Score:2)
Bind can earn our respect by performing exceptionally.
The name is fine, it's no weirder than Google or Yahoo as far as names go.
I'd rather use yandex (Score:2)
Their image-search is top-notch and often has more results than google. At least for "obscure" images.
"Google it" is dying (Score:2)
I have 2 tweens and a teen in my house, and they say "search it up". They never say "google it". I've done an experiment where I've switched the default search engine on the home computers to Bing and they didn't even notice.
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And fresh from that success, it's time to for the linux distros to go after mobile users. I'm sure Google will make easier pickings than Microsoft.
(Wouldn't it be cool, if someone, anyone ever paid a price for failure? Like wouldn't it be great if the "designers" who repeatedly screwed up gnome, KDE (and oh, maybe firefox?) were never let near a computer again?)
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If corporations worried less about their "brand", and more about their products, we'd all be better off.
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The whole reason not Cortana and why Microsoft chose Bing is that they envisioned the name of their search being verbed and used by the masses. "Hey how many carbon atoms in a buckyball? One sec, let me Bing it". They did some product placement a few years ago in several shows to prominently display Bing and for characters to actually say "bing it". An episode of Big Bang Theory, and one of Criminal Minds I think. It was actually kind of funny.
The article is actually rather funny. The whole article is