Has Microsoft finally launched the Google Killer search engine?  Is Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant or Lebron James the next Michael Jordan?  Whether or not they are is not yet known.   Michael Jordan became the greatest basketball player of all time over a career, not over a season or a game (not even the 55 he dropped on the Knicks at The Garden – I was there) but over a multi year career with a multitude of game winning shots, championship rings and highlight reels.  So for now before we decide if Bing is the Google Killer, let's assume that Bing is a skinny freshman at North Carolina and is barely known outside of tech circles.

Microsoft has talked about purchasing Yahoo, which I consider the best, poorly managed web company, on and off for some time now but the launch of Bing is a major stepup in their search engine from Live Search.  Many industry insiders like to talk about search results and relevancy but the average consumer is not concerned, nor are they aware, of the differences in the search results.   They do not understand what goes into delivering relevant search results and most results are "similar enough" and "relevant" to the consumer.  Remember, this isn’t 1999 when you could get really odd and completely irrelevant results.  So on the results playing field and from the average consumers perspective, Google and Bing are even.

So if technically they are even, what will differentiate them?  I believe Google has become boring, as if search was ever exciting, and is simply the default search engine and verb (I Googled him), in many peoples mind.   But Bing is a pleasant experience and more stimulating to the eye with its various pictures and tidbits of information that it makes available.  Just because search is not the most exciting thing in the world, doesn’t mean we can't liven it up a little.

Bing does a great job in displaying video and images from search results and as reported by Techcrunch, also is incorporating Twitter into its search results.  While it doesn't include everyone, it has taken a sample of Twitterers based on followers and popularity and spiders the results.  One other point about Bing that really impressed me was Bing Maps.  I use Google Maps often and I was very happy with the presentation and results of Bing Maps.

If you are going to knock off the King, it helps to have a memorable name and if nothing else, Bing is memorable after all, who doesn't remember Chandler Bing?  I don’t know if Bing is the Google Killer but I believe it is a change in search presentation, if only minor, and a change that some people may like.  The common thought is that Bing will hurt Yahoo more than Google.  I disagree as Bing is a stylish version of Google ... completely unlike Yahoo at all.  I think any market share that Bing gets will be taken from Google but I am not sure I would run out and sell my Google stock just yet.  I like Bing but I find myself naturally going to Google for my search results.  Any change in user habits will be slow.