Microsoft's Bing celebrates a decade of mediocrity

Google is the best search engine; it is indisputable. Of course, the downside to Google is that it is a privacy nightmare, tracking you and logging your search history. While there are alternatives, such as DuckDuckGo and StartPage.com that focus on protecting your privacy, Google still provides the better search experience.

And then there is Bing -- the search engine people love to hate. Yes, it is fashionable to bash Microsoft's search engine, but the truth is, it's not that bad. In fact, it is fairly good. And that is the problem -- it is just mediocre, never really catching on with consumers. Google is just better. Despite Bing's lack of success, Microsoft has surprisingly stuck with it. As a result, today, Bing celebrates a 10th birthday -- a full decade of mediocrity. Huzzah!

"On June 3rd 2009, we debuted to the world with a fresh approach to search -- one that was anchored around the mission of empowering people through knowledge - helping you do more, not just search more. A lot has happened since then, so we wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate you -- the people who have transformed the pursuit of answers into understanding, perspective and action," says The Bing Team.

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The team further says, "From the beginning we knew search needed to become more than just a list of blue links. We continued to iterate and innovate across the search experience; in 2017, we recognized a similar unmet need -- search should give you answers faster, be more comprehensive and allow everyone to engage more naturally. We made a commitment to invest in search experiences that help people discover facts, uncover multiple perspectives, find better options, and see the bigger picture. These advancements are enabled by Microsoft Research labs, deep neural networks, state of the art machine learning and passionate teams working to deliver the best search experience possible."

How does Microsoft plan to celebrate Bing's 10th birthday? With a special URL, of course! By going to https://www.microsoft.com/bingis10, you can access an interactive photo mosaic shaped like the number 10. The photos contain facts about Bing, previous "photos of the day," and search links for birthday related things, such as cake recipes. By interacting with the photos, you can potentially win prizes -- including a Surface Go.

What is your favorite Bing memory from the last decade? Please tell me in the comments below.

Image credit: Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock