So I’ve noticed this Bing thing going around. Microsoft is spending a bunch of money trying to steal market share from Google, and its campaign so far strikes me as the smartest thing they’ve done for some time. Pretty soon folks will be saying Vista who? Or maybe Vista will just be remembered as the New Coke of this generation.
But the early results of Bing are encouraging. When I search for a reference to this humble blog of mine, nine out of the first 10 Bings! go to me. So, yeah, I’m a fan.
Alas, a search for Dave Wilson or David Wilson or even David A. Wilson unleashes an ungodly torrent of unfamiliar mugs and profiles from all over the place. I was aware of namesakes of yours truly, the late director of Saturday Night Live, Dave Wilson (always odd to see your name rolling on the credits for a show you had nothing to do with other than watch it!), the football player from Illinois (if memory serves), a real cannon of an arm. But there are hundreds of me out there who aren’t me, which can be confusing, even for me.
But then came the one with the same date of birth (year, even!) who has a rather extensive criminal record. This is not good. But I digress.
Point is this Bing thing is all shiny and new and might be what keeps Microsoft near the top of the heap as its Windows and Office Suites/Word/Etc. software have been losing market share and sales amid a soft economy and stiffer competition from cloudware and other stuff.
Are Google and Yahoo! nervous? Well, maybe they should be, at least a little. This Bing might be the Real Thing. For some folks, it’s just another wrinkle in the SEO game. Meanwhile, it looks like Microsoft might be onto something.
And the ads are pretty funny.
See for yourself:
Simon Dumenco of Adverting Age is a little less impressed. He sees it as purely Microsoft positioning itself in an advertising war with Google.
I guess the information overload aspect is just an amusing side effect. Whatever.
AkronDave 