Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

pcworld.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 229 posts

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#191

Post by mrayycombi »

philistine wrote: post #187
mrayycombi wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

At this point the events you’re describing are decades ago. To me they are as relevant to the Google and Microsoft of today as saying that Apple is not to be trusted because they messed up the Performa line. Not irrelevant, but those company are faceless, far bigger, far more insidious than when the events you describe happened.

It's only past history if they stop doing it.

If you try to download and install chrome they do the same visual obfuscation, hide the button, and deceptilink you to use their browser.

Nothing has changed bro. Open your eyes. They never repented.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#192

Post by neonsunset »

theonemind wrote: post #184
cj wrote: post #121

Fun fact: Microsoft Ads (the place you go to buy ads on Bing) is essentially a carbon copy of Google Ads in every way imaginable. The UI is, quite literally, exactly the same. The names of the features are nearly identical. There is very little differentiation, and it's 100% by design - doing this makes it very easy for marketing people to switch between ad platforms without needing to learn a completely new interfac…

They've always used copying as one of their signature moves, see zune vs ipod, win3/95 vs mac, early Internet explorer based on spyglass/NCSA mosaic, Novell eDirectory vs ActiveDirectory, C# vs Java, F# vs Ocaml, and many more I would have to think hard about and take a long time to remember. They tend to enter late with a me-too product, whether they copy, acquire, or embrace-extend-extinguish, but copying does play…

Please try using F# or C# for once and you'll see how incorrect this statement is. Both had huge amounts of novel work that influenced the whole industry.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#193

Post by mrayycombi »

Incipient wrote: post #185
mrayycombi wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The majority of big business is built on varying degrees of fraud, bribery, nepotism, anti-competitive behaviour, etc. It's just how business is done. If you don't get a leg up on your competitors, they'll get one up on you.

A sad excuse for criminal conduct. Believe it or not there are lots of law abiding businesses, and companies that compete on quality, service, and price.

And even if that were an extreme minority (and I don't think it is) we should praise them as models instead of resigning ourselves to mediocre businesses using illegal tactics to control a market for super profits.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#194

Post by [deleted] »

neonsunset wrote: post #192
theonemind wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've always used copying as one of their signature moves, see zune vs ipod, win3/95 vs mac, early Internet explorer based on spyglass/NCSA mosaic, Novell eDirectory vs ActiveDirectory, C# vs Java, F# vs Ocaml, and many more I would have to think hard about and take a long time to remember. They tend to enter late with a me-too product, whether they copy, acquire, or embrace-extend-extinguish, but copying does play…

Please try using F# or C# for once and you'll see how incorrect this statement is. Both had huge amounts of novel work that influenced the whole industry.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#195

Post by knowitnone »

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…

except you can kill someone by switching their choice of foods. why would you do that?

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#196

Post by Barrin92 »

philistine wrote: post #188
garciasn wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Far less than the time saved had they received Google's results instead of Bing's inferior ones.

I don’t believe for one second that Google’s results are better. Their market share is so big that no one running SEO scams is looking at their Bing results. So that immediately makes the Bing results far more organic and sane.

>Their market share is so big that no one running SEO scams is looking at their Bing results

That's pretty unsound logic for two reasons. One is that it's not very likely that SEO optimization for different mainstream search engines requires any more effort than for one, secondly Bings ~5% market share is what, tens of millions of people still? If nobody games it you're leaving free money on the floor, and internet scammers are hyper competitive.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#197

Post by jrochkind1 »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #109
jrochkind1 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they didn't care what search engine they were using, would it be necessary to make it look so much like the google homepage?

Older people don’t understand the idea of “search engine”, they understand “google”. They don’t realize you can “google” through Bing as well. I hate it, but it is what it is.

I mean, i would describe what you are describing as them actually caring a lot what search engine they are using, but possibly out of ignorance.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#198

Post by thaumasiotes »

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…

> there's a very large percentage of poorly palated patrons

You should look into writing poetry. ;D

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#199

Post by philistine »

mrayycombi wrote: post #191
philistine wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point the events you’re describing are decades ago. To me they are as relevant to the Google and Microsoft of today as saying that Apple is not to be trusted because they messed up the Performa line. Not irrelevant, but those company are faceless, far bigger, far more insidious than when the events you describe happened.

It's only past history if they stop doing it. If you try to download and install chrome they do the same visual obfuscation, hide the button, and deceptilink you to use their browser. Nothing has changed bro. Open your eyes. They never repented.

> faceless, far bigger, far more insidious

My point is not that they're better. It's that they're faceless now, they no longer have the personality you ascribe to them.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#200

Post by kalleboo »

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…

If you ask someone for a Kleenex, are you going to be angry if they give you some other brand of paper tissue?
Post reply on HN