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Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

pcworld.com

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Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#91

Post by comex »

londons_explore wrote: post #61

This is partly preying on the fact googles 'doodles' weaken their brand/trademark. Back when every google doodle clearly had the word "Google" in, that was okay. But often now, the doodles are just some random picture. At that point, there is no brand recognition to their homepage beyond a blank white background and centered search box, which microsoft has copied here because those elements alone are not enough to fo…

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 the fact that Microsoft is hijacking searches for the keyword “google”. Courts have previously rejected trademark claims when a company takes out search ads using its competitor’s name as a keyword, but Google could argue that what Microsoft is doing here is more deceptive than that.

(IANAL and have only passing familiarity, but I’m fairly confident in the above.)

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#92

Post by geodel »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #87
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…

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?

Because they think it is genius.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#93

Post by [deleted] »

comex wrote: post #91
londons_explore wrote: post #61

This is partly preying on the fact googles 'doodles' weaken their brand/trademark. Back when every google doodle clearly had the word "Google" in, that was okay. But often now, the doodles are just some random picture. At that point, there is no brand recognition to their homepage beyond a blank white background and centered search box, which microsoft has copied here because those elements alone are not enough to fo…

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…

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#94

Post by pessimizer »

lupusreal wrote: post #76
Sephr wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both companies are known for highly invasive tracking.

Bing lets me search even though I block their cookies, trackers, etc. Google doesn't. If I even wanted to use Google I'd have to go through the hassle of whitelisting their crap, and for what?

I remember people arguing on HN over a decade ago about how awful it was that on Google News you wouldn't get direct links, but instead links to their tracking system that would forward you to the story.

Now, they'll even refuse to forward the links unless you do a captcha, and you can't escape from captcha hell unless you accept cookies and you don't forge (or refuse to send) your referer.

We were talking about how most of the internet got locked behind walled gardens, but we didn't notice how much of the "open" internet secretly became a walled garden. Starting with that Facebook like button, Google Analytics, and Google ads everywhere, and culminating in Cloudflare MITMing everything.

aside: One of my personal conspiracy theories is that when the government wants deep activity on a site to be tracked, they DDOS the site until there's no other option than to add Cloudflare.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#96

Post by gazchop »

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…

I haven’t heard anyone utter anything but disgust at accidentally using bing. They know.

The fact windows is full of dark patterns to try and get you to use it is pathetic disrespectful hubris not genius.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#97

Post by ClassyJacket »

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…

That makes no sense. If they don't care what search engine they're using, why do it?

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#98

Post by from-nibly »

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…

Misleading people is always nefarious full stop. It's not your job to decide whether or not someone else cares, it's theirs.

Re: Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to fool inattentive searchers

#99

Post by junar »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #71
spacemanspiff01 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I am cheap, but I have been using bing because of their rewards points stuff, at least then I get paid for my data.

I will help determine if you're cheap. How much money have you saved/made through the rewards points stuff?

I perused the Bing rewards site [1]. It seems that you need 1,000 Bing searches to get a $5 Microsoft or Xbox gift card (3rd party gift cards seem more expensive). There are also daily caps on rewards from Bing searches.

[1] https://rewards.bing.com/welcome

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