Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots) • Hacker News Board

Re: Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots)

#21

Post by anigbrowl » Thu, May 28, 2009, 8:40 PM UTC

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #10

looks like a portal type page is generated for each search. could be superior to google for shopping. though amazon already covers that base fairly well.

The form for searching out plane tickets and such was the only thing that jumped out at me. It might be a winner if they make it very easy to buy things through the search engine page...eg you search for 'Great New Movie', get a list of cinemas local to your zip, pick the theater+showtime you want, and then get a 'buy' button, all without leaving the search environment.

But things like that have been tried many times before. And I'm sure Google could resurrect Checkout or Wallet or whatever it was called.

Re: Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots)

#22

Post by carbon8 » Thu, May 28, 2009, 9:04 PM UTC

misterbwong wrote: post #20

carbon8 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus, everyone knows that the first step in great UI development is covering an application's background in stock photos.

I don't know. I quite like the background photos on the current Live.com. It's a welcome change from the boring white pages. I do agree that the results interface looks cluttered. Granted, they are trying to present a lot of information, but they should find a way to simplify it. I suspect they'll change it up in time and after a real world launch.

"I quite like..."

But that's just a taste preference (though I agree with the sentiment; I personally don't like white backgrounds in general). Plus, all indications are that the images are just a haphazard marketing decision. Good design controls and deliberately influences user behavior patterns. This just tries to look pretty and not be google, disregarding any impact that might have on usability or functionality.

Re: Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots)

#23

Post by qeorge » Thu, May 28, 2009, 11:19 PM UTC

icey wrote: post #5

qeorge wrote: post #2

I may be in the minority, but I think this is exciting. We need more competition in search. I'm not sure if Microsoft is the right company for the job, but I'm glad they finally seem to be taking search seriously. I'm also glad they went with Bing and not Sift, as we bought BingSEO.com recently. ;)

I hope they start using it on MSDN. Until they can get their shit together with regard to search on their own properties, I don't have a lot of hope for them indexing the web.

Absolutely. There's a real culture problem at Microsoft that is hostile to search. I think its absolutely fair to say that Microsoft has treated search as an afterthought in their products, and it shows.

I recently saw Microsoft's Mike Gannotti speak about building Sharepoint portals for large organizations, and he said "if a user has to search you have failed them." The argument was that if a proper hierarchical navigation was in place a user should never have to search.

To me that's heresy, and I wasn't shy about saying so. The retort was that I saw search as a panacea, or worse as an excuse to be lazy about information architecture. Of course neither is true. I believe great IA begets great search and that both are important and worth getting right.

So I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm hoping Bing can work on both fronts, by applying taxonomy to unstructured information when it makes sense and staying out of the way the rest of the time. With the wealth of talent at Microsoft I think they are capable of building a great search engine, but only if they can really see search as more than an ad platform.

Re: Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots)

#24

Post by icey » Thu, May 28, 2009, 11:34 PM UTC

qeorge wrote: post #23

icey wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope they start using it on MSDN. Until they can get their shit together with regard to search on their own properties, I don't have a lot of hope for them indexing the web.

Absolutely. There's a real culture problem at Microsoft that is hostile to search. I think its absolutely fair to say that Microsoft has treated search as an afterthought in their products, and it shows. I recently saw Microsoft's Mike Gannotti speak about building Sharepoint portals for large organizations, and he said "if a user has to search you have failed them." The argument was that if a proper hierarchical nav…

It's really unfortunate, because they have a terrible bitrot problem as well. If I try to find documentation on products older than 3 or 4 years old, at some point in the hunt for the correct documents, I'll end up at a 404 error. What makes it terrible is that I'll get that 404 from a page that I've been linked to from inside of MSDN, or from the search. I just use Google to search MSDN now, and it saves me tons of time (and frustration).

Re: Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots)

#25

Post by joshu » Fri, May 29, 2009, 10:40 PM UTC

henning wrote: post #11

iroach wrote: post #7

Less is more. Microsoft just doesn't seem to get that. This interface looks like a convoluted piece of crap that changes based on what I search on. No thanks.

It looks like it will be the Zune of search engines. TEH WOW STARTS NAO GUISE LOL

I GOT A BROWN ZUNE