Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

Post by tim333 » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 10:12 AM UTC

mrayycombi wrote: post #179

comex wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but for the record, if Google wanted to sue, they wouldn’t be completely out of luck. They could make claims under the Lanham Act §1125(a), state unfair competition laws, or other fraud-adjacent laws. But they would have to prove that Microsoft was deceiving customers, and it would be a lot harder without an actual case of trademark infringement. They could also try to claim trademark infringement based on t…

Microsoft has been breaking the law for years and was found guilty of antitrust violations, among others. Bill Gates, the friendly philanthropist, was/is a business criminal. His company hasn't changed. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/microsoft-agrees-pay-20-milli... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_C... . They waged a war of "FUD" against open-source software. https://lxer.com/module/newswir…

Post by alt187 » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 11:29 AM UTC

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #130

jjcm wrote: post #82

Disclaimer - I used to work on Bing like... 8 years ago. There's probably some debate around whether this is nefarious or genius, but I'd lead towards the later. "google" has always been one of the number one search terms, and the amount of people who would open chrome, search for google in the address bar, then open google in the google search results, then do their search, was wild. There's a very large percentage…

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…

Post by sumtechguy » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 1:29 PM UTC

hnlmorg wrote: post #60

sumtechguy wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, this is what I want bing's 'homepage' to look like and I usually configure it to be as close to that as I can. The default was/is a ton of news and other junk. I just want a search bar and maybe an identifier picture. It was one of the things I liked when google first came out. It was 'simple' as many of the other search engines from years ago had tons of 'helpful' things on the front page that I just did n…

I always find it embarrassing when a colleague opens up a new tab while screen sharing and Bing / Edge starts spamming trashy news. Given Microsoft is “soo enterprise” it’s always a source of amazement that Microsoft feel it’s acceptable to default to this kind of spammy behaviour. It just goes to show how running businesses by engagement scores really is just a race to the bottom.

Post by devsda » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 2:48 PM UTC

recursive wrote: post #162

miki123211 wrote: post #143

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If you use a search engine, you need an Ad Blocker. Not because "privacy:", not because "tracking", but because malicious ads exist, and you'll click on one eventually. This is even more true for less technical family members.

You've completely overlooked the possibility of a search engine without ads. That's what I use.

Post by bangaladore » Wed, Jan 08, 2025, 3:53 PM UTC

do_not_redeem wrote: post #119

bangaladore wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly that doesn't work on Brave Windows (Chromium) but works on Chrome Windows. I wonder if Brave is specifically deleting this element.

Interesting. uBlock Origin is hiding the element. At first I wasn't able to see the search box, but I can see it if I toggle cosmetic filtering. Looks like it's targeting #b_pole ("Promoted by Microsoft")