Microsoft is celebrating the 10th anniversary of launching Bing as its Internet search engine. But Bing wasn’t Microsoft’s first try at this market: It previously marketed MSN Search, Windows Live Search, and Live Search before recalibrating and recasting a rebranded Bing as a “decision engine” in hopes of differentiating it from Google Search.
“Today we’re introducing a new kind of search that goes beyond traditional search engines to help you make faster, more informed decisions,” Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi wrote back on May 28, 2009. “It will do this by combining a great search engine (with powerful new features to improve your results for any query), more organized results, and unique tools to help you make important decisions. We think of Bing as a Decision Engine.”
Most Internet users think of Bing as an also-ran: The service has never achieved double-digit usage share worldwide and now commands just 8.24 percent usage, compared to 75.5 percent for Google and 10.47 percent for Baidu. On mobile, Bing is nonexistent with just 0.82 percent usage share.
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