Microsoft Effort To Best Google Yields Results

正如西方人把Kleenex作为纸巾的代名词，谷歌(Google)也是互联网搜索的代名词。即使你习惯用雅虎(Yahoo)等其他搜索引擎在网上找东西，但仍可能说自己“Google”了一下，因为每个人都明白这是什么意思。现在，微软公司(Microsoft Corp.)希望能改变大众的习惯，开始用“Bing”进行互联网搜索。微软Bing搜索引擎测评Katherine Boehret试用了微软新推出的搜索引擎Bing。这款搜索引擎能够给出相关的搜索建议；当你把鼠标悬停在一个链接的右侧边缘时，页面上会显示关于该网页的一个简单介绍；此外，Bing还提供便捷的餐饮与旅游信息导航。2009年5月末，微软宣布将新推出的搜索引擎命名为Bing，并表示Bing可以直接在搜索页面上显示更多的答案，用户不用反复点击各种连接深入寻找想要的东西。和Google一样，Bing也可以当作动词来用。我已经使用Bing两个多星期了，这个搜索引擎的命中率确实很高，输入查询内容后就能得到有用的信息，但最让我欣赏的是其友好的用户界面，看起来和用起来都比谷歌更吸引人。Bing有一个功能叫做Hover，当你把鼠标放在一个连接的右侧边缘时，就会显示出关于该网页的一个简单介绍，从而避免用户访问无用的页面，节约时间。此外，为进一步减少用户点击进入其他页面所花费的工夫，Bing在回答医学类查询时，会把梅约临床和医疗中心(Mayo Clinic)提供的相关信息放在搜索页面顶部。用Bing搜索视频时，只要你把鼠标移到静止缩略图所代表的视频内容上，视频就会自动播放，而不用点击播放键或进入新的播放页面；当把鼠标移开，视频就会停止。查询公司名称时，搜索页面顶部通常会列出该公司的客户服务电话。关于购物和餐饮服务的评价以及旅游信息也在Bing中得到极大的重视。Microsoft一种名为Bing Travel的技术可以预测机票将来是会涨还是会降但谷歌不会就此罢手。两个搜索引擎都坚持简单明了白色背景的界面，并都在页面顶部自豪地标明搜索结果的总数，但这方面的竞争几乎每次都是谷歌获胜。谷歌也正逐步在搜索结果中加入更多自己开发的有用数据，但与Bing相比的话就大为逊色了。可以肯定地是，很多人会尝试一下Bing，然后可能感觉不顺手，回头还用谷歌。还有些人会用网络浏览器设置的搜索引擎（很多情况下是谷歌），因为他们不知道如何更改设置，或者懒得去动。微软的Live Search搜索引擎已经被Bing.com所替代。你可以通过登录Bing.com这种略显老套的方式进入Bing的搜索界面。Bing.com的首页完美体现出该搜索引擎迷人赏心悦目的风格，一幅具有视觉冲击力的图片占据大部分版面，就像时尚杂志的封面一样。通常来说，图片比较新潮，抢眼，而且每天都会更换。如果把鼠标放到图片上，就会浮现出有趣的文字和网页连接，告诉你关于这张图片的一些东西。可惜的是，很多人看不到Bing的首页，因为他们直接通过浏览器内置的搜索引擎进行搜索。在Bing的首页上，你可以直接搜索视频，如电视节目新闻和体育视频等，或搜索音乐，观看按歌手风格和流行程度排序的音乐视频。我浏览了电视剧“办公室”(The Office)的几集内容，看了乡村歌手比尔·科尔林顿(Billy Currington)的音乐视频《People Are Crazy》。Microsoft (Bing), Google在有关网球选手费德勒(Roger Federer)的网页搜索中，微软的搜索引擎Bing在同一页面上列出了图片以及相关搜索短语。Bing搜索结果页面的左侧有一个功能区，叫做Explore Pane，包括一些建议选择的搜索词条和类别等。举例而言，输入亚伯拉罕·林肯(Abraham Lincoln)的词条，这个功能区会显示这位前美国总统的演说孩提时代和图书馆等链接。Explore Pane还会显示出其他人搜索同类内容时所使用的词条。有时候，这种相关词条很有用，比如我用Bing搜索保罗·麦卡特尼(Paul McCartney)时，功能区显示的是“保罗·麦卡特尼巡回演出日期”(Paul McCartney Tour Dates)。但有时候，这些词条也会让人感到困惑，比如我搜索自己的名字Katherine Boehret，发现名列首位的相关词条是Jan D'Esopo。（根据维基百科(Wikipedia)的介绍，Jan D'Esopo是一位活跃于波多黎各的画家和雕刻家。）我尝试用Bing和谷歌搜索同一个词条，并对搜索结果进行对比，比如网球选手罗杰·费德勒(Roger Federer)。Bing搜索页面的顶部列出费德勒的六幅彩色图片，Explore Pane上则列出关于他生平海报言谈博客等的连接。名列第三的相关词条是“罗杰·费德勒无上装”(Roger Federer Shirtless)，让我大笑不已。谷歌没有把罗杰·费德勒的图片自动列在搜索页面上（要看到图片，你得进入谷歌的图片搜索页面），但的确把费德勒在当天法国网球公开赛(French Open)上的比分列上了－－这个信息对我来说非常有用。Bing以比谷歌更赏心悦目的方式显示图片。在Bing上对费德勒进行图片搜索，显示出的只有图片，而谷歌图片搜索的结果中还有很多乱七八糟的文字描述。通过选择Bing搜索页面右上方的视觉功能，我可以将图片尺寸设置成小中大或细节观看。当我把鼠标移到一张图片上时，就会弹出一张更大尺寸的同样图片，附带一些文字细节。微软希望人们使用Bing进行购物搜索，搜索引擎会直接在页面右边显示对该产品的测评，看上去有点像亚马逊网站(Amazon)，此外还有图片评价指数和网上商店的连接。Bing Cashback是一个针对一些特定商品的购物返现活动，比微软以前一个让人搞不懂的同类活动更简单明了，但还是有待改进。对那些上网搜索航空公司票价的人，微软在搜索引擎中整合了一个名为Bing Travel的技术。该工具能根据数据积累和分析来预测票价在未来的走势。针对酒店预订，Bing还内置了一个类似的工具，通过数据分析告诉你有没有订到一个好价钱。当我克服了刚开始因不熟悉而对Bing产生的抗拒心理后，我真的很喜欢使用它，觉得用它来搜索东西更方便，更有互动感。通过将多媒体内容直接用于搜索结果页面，微软向用户提供了一项名副其实的服务。Katherine Boehret（编者按：本文作者Katherine Boehret是《华尔街日报》科技栏目The Mossberg Solution的专栏作家。该栏目主要介绍一些最新的科技产品，为读者提供购买指南。）相关阅读微软Bing搜索引擎展开广告攻势 2009-06-04微软新搜索引擎Bing叫板谷歌 2009-05-29原声视频：D7：鲍尔默谈微软“必应”搜索与谷歌搜索的区别 2009-05-29 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年06月04日09:25', 'GOOG'));Google Inc. (Cl A)总部地点：美国上市地点：纳斯达克股票代码：GOOGdocument.write (truthmeter('2009年06月04日09:25', 'MSFT'));Microsoft Co.总部地点：美国上市地点：纳斯达克股票代码：MSFT


Google is to search what Kleenex is to tissues. Even if you're in the habit of using another search engine like Yahoo to look up something online, you probably say you 'Googled' it because everyone knows what you mean. Microsoft Corp. is hoping you'll change your habits and start 'Binging' for that which you once Googled.Last week, Microsoft announced Bing as the name of its new search engine. The company describes Bing as delivering more answers to your search queries directly on the search-results page, so you don't have to keep hunting around for what you want to find. And, like Google, Bing can be used as a verb.I've been using Bing for more than two weeks now, and this search engine really did retrieve on-target, useful information on the first try. But what I like best about it is that it does so in a user-friendly manner that looks and feels more inviting than Google.A feature called Hover displays a brief summary of each Web page when your cursor is hovering over the right edge of a link, and this can save you from visiting a useless page. As another time-saving feature, to further save searchers from clicking to another page, Bing answers medical queries by featuring information from the Mayo Clinic at the top of the results page. Videos on Bing start playing when you move your cursor over a thumbnail still image from the video, without requiring you to press play or go to a new page; the videos stop when you mouse elsewhere. A query about a company usually returns its customer-service phone number at the top of the results page. Shopping, restaurant reviews and travel are also significantly enhanced by Bing.Google isn't going away. Both search engines stick to plain, white backgrounds and proudly proclaim the total number of results at the top of the page, a competition that Google almost always wins. Google also is steadily delivering more of its own useful data right in the results, but those efforts feel minimal compared with Bing.It's a given that many people will try Bing once, get frustrated by the unfamiliar environment and switch back to Google. Others will use whatever their Web browser's search box is set to (Google, for many people) because they don't know how to change their options or they're too lazy to do so. Microsoft's Live Search engine has been replaced by Bing.com.You can bring up Bing the old-fashioned way by going to Bing.com. This Web page is a perfect example of the search engine's engaging, attractive style. Bing.com evokes the cover of a glossy magazine with a stunning photo that takes over the page. This photo, usually slightly off-beat and somewhat alluring, changes every day. If you move your cursor across the photo, blurbs filled with interesting text and Web links materialize on-screen to teach you something related to the photo. It's a shame that many people will never see the Web page because they search using the box built into their browser.From this home page, you can dive directly into searching videos, like TV shows, news and sports videos, or browsing music by watching music videos arranged by artist, genre and popularity. I browsed through episodes of 'The Office' and watched the 'People Are Crazy' music video by country singer, Billy Currington.The Bing results page has a left-side panel called the Explore Pane, which includes suggestions of terms and categories to select. A search for Abraham Lincoln, for example, showed links to speeches, childhood and library -- among others. The Explore Pane includes related searches of terms that people searching for the same thing as you also looked up.The related searches were sometimes helpful, like 'Paul McCartney Tour Dates' when I Binged the famed musician. But the related searches also could be confusing, like when I searched for my own name and found 'Jan D'Esopo' listed as the top related search suggestion. (D'Esopo is a painter and sculptor who is active in Puerto Rico, according to Wikipedia.)I tried comparing Bing with Google in side-by-side searches for tennis player Roger Federer. Bing showed me six colorful images of Federer atop its results page, along with an Explore Pane full of links to his biography, posters, quotes, blog and more. The third listed related-search term, 'Roger Federer Shirtless,' made me laugh.Google didn't automatically embed images of the tennis great on its results page (for that, of course, you have to go to its Image search page), but it did display Federer's winning score for that day's French Open match -- information that was extremely useful to me.Bing presents photos in a more eye-pleasing way than Google. The Roger Federer image search on Bing filled the page with images only -- none of the messy text descriptions that appear in the same Google search results. By selecting visuals in the top right of the Bing results page, I changed the size of the photos to small, medium, large or detailed. As I moved my cursor over an image, the image popped forward in a larger version with text details.Microsoft wants people to use Bing for shopping, and the search engine brings product reviews right to the results page, making it look a bit like Amazon, complete with images, ratings and links to online stores. Bing Cashback, a money-rewards program that works with certain items, is less complicated than its confusing predecessor, but it isn't as clear as it should be.For people looking up airline flights, Microsoft integrates a technology called Bing Travel into the search. This tool predicts whether a fare will go up or down in the future based on data aggregation and analysis. A built-in tool works similarly with hotels, analyzing data to tell if you're getting a good deal.After I got over my initial resistance to Bing's unfamiliarity, I really enjoyed using it and found that searching with it was less of a chore and more of an interactive experience. Microsoft gives users a true service by bringing rich content directly to the search-results page.Katherine Boehret