
Bing executive: 'We have caught up' to Google in search quality - mechanician
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/06/bing-vs-google.html
======
tshtf
I still see Bing regularly come up with lousy search results. The other day I
did a Bing search for "FM100-6", and none of the top 10 hits were relevant:
[http://www.bing.com/search?q=FM100-6&go=&form=QBLH&#...](http://www.bing.com/search?q=FM100-6&go=&form=QBLH&qs=n&sk=&sc=1-7).
Google, on the other hand, had exactly what I was looking for in the all of
the top 5:
[https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=FM10...](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=FM100-6)

This happened frequently when I tried using Bing exclusively.

~~~
dhimes
Interesting that for FM100.6 Bing algorithm ranks 100.6 more relevant than the
literal 100-6, almost as if it doesn't know what to do with the "-" character.
Using "Field Manual" instead of "FM" gives results closer to what you were
looking for.

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danieldon
Two sites that I've put up in the past 6 months have yet to be crawled by bing
(it indexed the main page of one, but has absolutely nothing for the second),
despite it indexing links pointing to those sites and me submitting them to be
indexed months ago. They are both completely distinct, unrelated and on
separate servers. Meanwhile, google started crawling them immediately.

Interestingly, on the one that eventually got the home page indexed by bing,
the bulk of the content is still not linked from the main page, but can be
fully crawled via deeper links people have posted elsewhere. Google crawled it
via those links, Bing still only sees the front page.

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tptacek
This seems like a fabulously awful marketing message. Every time they say it,
they concede that Google offered superior search quality up until now. If
they're going to compete on features, like "entertainment search" or pretty
front pages, they should neutralize the concern about results quality, not
turn it into the entire horse race.

~~~
qeorge
Pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

I like it, in the same way as the Domino's ads that admit their pizza used to
suck.

~~~
yellowbkpk
But in both cases, the product still sucks. Saying that your product has
"caught up" gives the customer a greater incentive to question any future
improvements and any other marketing material coming from your organization.

After Domino's said they did better and after a taste-test I discovered it was
still worse than Papa John's, I mock the Domino's commercials and will never
visit a Domino's again. Same with Bing.

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olegk
<http://www.google.com/search?q=(5+MBps)*(2+hours)>

<http://www.bing.com/search?q=(5+MBps)*(2+hours)>

And that's why I use google

~~~
mdg
<http://www.bing.com/search?q=999999999999999-999999999999998>

[http://www.google.com/search?q=999999999999999-9999999999999...](http://www.google.com/search?q=999999999999999-999999999999998)

And that's why I use bing

~~~
pohl
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room.

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=999999999999999-9999999...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=999999999999999-999999999999998)

<http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(5+MBps)*(2+hours)>

------
NeilCJames
FTA: "We've got a lot of work to do," Mehdi said during his presentation.
"It's not like people wake up in the morning, and say, 'Dang, I wish I had
another search engine.' "

This is the problem with Bing, not anything technical. Why start a business
built around a service that you don't think anyone wants? A product which
beats the market leader in one or several clearly defined niches has a chance
in the long run, but no one wanted Bing except Microsoft. It was and is a
product looking for a market. It would take catastrophic failure at Google for
Bing to split the market.

I am not rooting for one team or the other, nor am I against diversity in the
market. I just think the quote above reveals something about the product
development process at Microsoft that I'd be wary of if I were an employee or
investor.

~~~
chris100
It's like the iPhone (or the Mac, for that matter). No one knew they wanted a
better search, until an _obviously_ superior search comes along.

So I wouldn't say it's hopeless for Bing at all. There are so many ways that
search could be different from Google's current results...

------
tomjen3
In other news I am now a good lover.

No, it is just one of those things that isn't the case until other people tell
you it is.

~~~
ElbertF
_Jessy? Hi, it's me. I'm just calling to let you know I finally caught up to
your boyfriend in love making quality._

I wonder if she'll consider making the switch.

------
itg
Since when is a PR statement news? Obviously he won't say anything negative.

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alecco
Meanwhile Google search results are going back to the Altavista days thanks to
dumbing it down to help newbs and so many SEO sites. Very often I have to put
quotes and plus signs in searches or else Google will just tell me something
similar (not just a simple "do you mean Y" link.)

There's a need for a better search engine or a google management shake-up.

------
Tichy
Compare "We have caught up" to "We took longer, because we wanted to get it
right". I think Steve Jobs delivers it even better, but I am too lazy to look
up the exact sentence. Both is saying the same thing, but the second version
(in Steve Job's variant) can make the competition look bad.

Bing needs to work on their marketing...

~~~
chc
I think the two versions are both fairly honest, though, and wouldn't be if
reversed. Microsoft has had an inferior search project for a long time and is
playing catch-up with Google. Apple simply took a long time getting the device
to market, but when they did, it was completely game-changing.

~~~
Tichy
Their implementation of multitasking, to which that sentence was referring,
still seems to be inferior. Or let's say different, for diplomacy - yet they
make it sound as if they are ahead.

~~~
chc
Oh, I thought it was the iPad. Misremembered. At any rate, Apple really did
wait to release their implementation. They didn't have inferior multitasking
for years. They could have stuck in a very poor implementation to begin with
(the OS has always supported it), but they did indeed wait on it.

~~~
Tichy
All I am saying is that Bing could improve their marketing by rephrasing
certain things.

------
timcederman
They have certainly set the bar on some things, and met Google in others.

One thing that has made it easier for them is the decrease of Google's search
quality.

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bediger
I thought Bing was a "decision engine" and Google was a "search engine".

Isn't this comparing apples to oranges, metaphorically speaking?

