It is no secret that Microsoft would like to have a portion of the search engine market and revenue which is currently dominated mainly by Google. The closest competitor to Google is Yahoo while Microsoft's search engine has been ranked the third most popular search engine for a good few years now.
Microsoft sure has a peculiar way to do things. If we were to count precisely, Bing would have been Microsoft's 4th generation search engine, which are preceded by MSN Search (1998-2006), Windows Live Search (2006-2007) and Live Search (2007-2009).I am keen to believe that continuity is rather important for any web services and virtual real estate to grow and be successful. Thus, I think Microsoft should tinker less with the name of its search engine and just concentrate on improving its search results and related services. I suppose that they are indeed heading in the direction I am indicating, for it seems the main reason Bing is launched and separated from its Live products and services is so that Microsoft's search services would be more independent, efficient and popular among web users.
Regardless of the lack of continuity or of a long-term vision (in the past), it would be naive to write off the potential of Bing at this moment. Backed by Microsoft's vast resources, it may be able to gain a larger portion of the search engine market than its predecessors. It is also important to note that Bing incorporates many new features and improvements, not just a simple name change.
Some interesting sites or pages related to Bing for you to explore:
Google / Bing Comparison
Bing (search engine) at Wikipedia
Try out Bing for yourself. It remains to be seen what Bing could do to improve web users' experience online and what effect it would bring to the search engine services market in general. What do you think about Bing?
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