Bing attempts to provide answers to questions by displaying refined versions of your query down the left side of the page, rather than simply a list of blue-colored links. For example, if you search for 'computer' while Google will spout a list of links, Bing gives you an additional list of related searches.

Another helpful feature is that if you point the cursor over a search result, a small vertical stripe with a yellow dot appears to the right of the listing -- if you rest the pointer on the yellow spot a text box appears with an excerpt of the content of the page, thus saving time if you are not sure if you want to access a result.



Since the idea is to keep the user hooked to the web site as long as possible, Bing's video search service allows you to watch short previews of videos from elsewhere on the Web without leaving Bing, for instance. To sum it up, you can shop Bing, watch Bing, listen to Bing and read Bing.

Binging Versus Googling

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been trumpeting Bing as a better solution for shopping searches, trip planning, health care queries and finding a local business. For product reviews at leasr, Bing does indeed seem to throw up better results than Google. Besides it also lists user and expert reviews in many products.

For those who are often annoyed by Google's habit of displaying old [sometimes even by months or years] stories at top of the heap of a serch result, Bing is more agressive in displaying the most recent news items.

Bing also stores away your Session History, remembering your queries within a single browser session for up to 48 hours, “making it easy to track your past queries, the results you clicked on and even the time you accessed a link.” Of course, you can turn it Off if you so prefer.

Those who argue that Bing does not have any features that make it game-changing enough to make regular-Google-searchers switch away from Google, are missing the point. Bing is not varied enough with new elements that require a steep learning curve. On the contrary, any regular Google searchers will find themselves at home at Bing right away, and can start searching.

At the moment Bing seems to have notched up a few point in the search game. Now how much Microsoft can chip away from Google's market share remains to be seen. But for now go ahead and watch the introductory video, and try Bing for yourself.