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Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

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Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#151

Post by ziml77 »

tbrownaw wrote: post #149
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. There's probably some debate about whether this is nefarious or genius, but I lean towards the later. "Coke" has always been the number one request from our patrons, and the amount of people who just wanted any soda but said "coke" was wild. there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons who aren't looking…

> Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. I have in fact heard "coke" used as a generic before. Just like google, kleenex, champaign, cheddar, ...

But at the very least they need to say "No Coke. Pepsi."

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#153

Post by nathanmills »

Actually, this is a brilliant move by Microsoft. As a developer, I can tell you that user interface mimicry is a time-honored tradition in software. Remember how Facebook copied Snapchat's stories? And plus, Google's monopoly needs to be challenged, and if users can't tell the difference in quality between Bing and Google anyway, then what's the problem? The real problem is that people are too used to Google. This might help break that habit.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#154

Post by riiii »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #135
zb3 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing can keep me on Bing unless the results improve. Or am I the only one who regularily gives Bing a try only to find out the results are irrelevant?

I started a new job and the browser default was set to Edge. I never bothered to change it and defaulted to using Bing for search. TBH, I don't notice a difference in results.

That's not because Bing is good. It's because Google has been enshittified.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#156

Post by pests »

tbrownaw wrote: post #149
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. There's probably some debate about whether this is nefarious or genius, but I lean towards the later. "Coke" has always been the number one request from our patrons, and the amount of people who just wanted any soda but said "coke" was wild. there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons who aren't looking…

> Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. I have in fact heard "coke" used as a generic before. Just like google, kleenex, champaign, cheddar, ...

This example was doomed from the start because of this fact.

A lot of the US south uses the generic "coke."* It is not uncommon for this conversation to play out: "Can I get a coke?" "Sure, which kind?" "A Coke" (or a pepsi, or fanta)

In my neck of the woods we call it "pop" which always sounded strange to me in isolation.

* As famously depicted in the 2003 Harvard Dialect Survey.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#157

Post by riiii »

bhelkey wrote: post #147
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. There's probably some debate about whether this is nefarious or genius, but I lean towards the later. "Coke" has always been the number one request from our patrons, and the amount of people who just wanted any soda but said "coke" was wild. there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons who aren't looking…

> I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. Did you tell them they were drinking Pepsi or ask some variant of "Is Pepsi okay?"

Are you from the PR Disaster Mitigation Department trying to find justification for this?

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#158

Post by lesuorac »

tbrownaw wrote: post #149
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. There's probably some debate about whether this is nefarious or genius, but I lean towards the later. "Coke" has always been the number one request from our patrons, and the amount of people who just wanted any soda but said "coke" was wild. there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons who aren't looking…

> Disclamer - I owned a restaurant that gave Pepsi products to customers who explicitly ask for a Coke. I have in fact heard "coke" used as a generic before. Just like google, kleenex, champaign, cheddar, ...

To avoid the whole question of if they carry pepsi or coke I usually just ask for a pepsi-coke and I've yet to run into any problems.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#160

Post by DoctorOW »

nine_k wrote: post #112
norman784 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are Google results good? I stop using Google years ago because of the garbage results (a lot of spam sites that were just serving data crawled from Github and other sites).

My primary search engine as of now is DDG, Their results are mostly fine (and powered partly by Bing). When their results are not good enough, I ask Google; often, but not always, it's better. For some other kinds of queries, Google fares notably worse than DDG, likely because SEO tricks are disproportionately directed against Google, and not always work against other search engines as effectively.

DDG uses Bing behind the scenes.
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