“Bing, Microsoft’s two-year old search engine, is losing nearly a $1 billion a quarter, with no sign of letting up,” David Goldman reports for CNNMoney.
“Microsoft has lost $5.5 billion on Bing since the search service launched in June 2009, but the company’s search losses actually pre-date that,” Goldman reports. “In fact, the software giant has never made money in its online services division. Since Microsoft began breaking out that unit’s finances in 2007, the company has lost a total of $9 billion.”
Goldman reports, “At the company’s financial analyst meeting in Anaheim, Calif., last week, Microsoft President of Online Services Qi Lu gave an impassioned speech about how Bing would improve search by ‘reorganizing the Web.’ To do that, Microsoft plans to leverage its network of products and partnerships to gain a better understanding of what the user is after when they enter a query into a Bing search box. Ultimately, Microsoft believes its technical secret sauce will let Bing both expand what is ‘searchable’ and deliver more robust search results than any of its competitors… Stefan Weitz, Microsoft’s director of Bing, believes that if Bing can change the way people think about search, sooner or later users will switch over from Google.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, uh… Good luck with that, Microsoft.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jubei” for the heads up.]
It is ridiculous having to come up with a plan to stop that kind of loss, and only now that’s gotten that big.
Congratulations on your strategy!! You like it a lot.
As was said repeatedly in the movie Groundhog Day…Bing!
…RECALCULATING…
…RECALCULATING…
…BING!!!
“In fact, the software giant has never made money in its online services division. Since Microsoft began breaking out that unit’s finances in 2007, the company has lost a total of $9 billion.”
That’s quite the rounding error.
I have transfered my iPad to Bing. Not great, but better than the alternatives.
But surprise! Bing steals search results from Google in order to improve their results!!! (Verified and admitted by MS over a year ago).
Typical Microsoft: Buy, steal or imitate.
What’s the difficulty of understanding “an independent non-biased search engine for the web”.
I’m Telling you Pete so John can hear it.
Can anyone offer a plausible explanation as to WHY it would cost so much to run a search engine? What are the costs involved? Think about it now..every three months Bing burns through more than $330 million dollars a month! $10 to $11 million a DAY! What?
I can’t. But, there has to be something that is not obvious that causes the loss. Maybe they are writing off the startup costs at a much faster rate than the norm with the intent of rising quickly from the ashes. Speaking of ashes…I need to roll another joint…
i use Bing so I can avoid Google.
I encourage anyone looking to avoid the Google-Bing duopoly to check out these search engines:
https://startpage.com/
https://ixquick.com/
Both are run by the same company with a terrific privacy policy. And note the “https:” at the start of the address, which prevents your ISP from snooping on your search URLs.
Of course, Mobile Safari doesn’t make it easy for you to use a search provider outside of the Google-Bing duopoly. (Yahoo doesn’t count, as it’s just a front for Bing anyway.) I recommend using an alternate iOS browser such as iCab Mobile.
Based upon your recommendation, I just gave startpage a try and got this:
We have recently received a large number of searches coming from your computer or others on your local network in a very short time frame. In order to protect our service against automated “screen scraping” software programs, your access to Startpage’s search has been paused for approximately one hour.
If you were using Startpage normally, we apologize for the inconvenience and will be able to lift this pause if you phone us at (212) 447-1100 (USA). Alternately, if you were operating a “screen scraping” program, you may phone us to work out an arrangement. You can also contact us at: autoquery @ startpage.com
Pretty impressive (not) for a first- and probably last- visit.
Exactly the same just happened at ixquick.
How about one that is actually more usable than google (well more tunable anyway)
Homepage: https://blekko.com/
Video on how to use: https://blekko.com/ws/+/press-videos
Blekko is very impressive.
I watched the Blekko video. I’m intrigued. I’ll look Bookmark Blekko and try it further.
Ixquick HTTPS for me. I’m finished with Google.
Thank you @Spade! To which I can add the independent search engine DuckDuckGo. It offers a page version with SSL as well as a page version with no JavaScript:
https://duckduckgo.com/
I also pay for and enjoy iCab as an excellent alternative browser.
A GREAT way to have a choice of search engines in Safari is to use install Glims:
http://www.MacHangout.com/
I have Glims setup to let me search via:
Ixquick
Lycos
Excite
DuckDuckGo
Metacrawler (Dogpile)
AOL
Yahoo
blinkx
MeFeedia
About
Amazon
Ask
CNET
eBay
Dictionary
Facebook
VersionTracker (CNET Download)
MacUpdate
Wikipedia
IMDB
iTunes Albums
blahblahblah
,,, But no Bing, thank you.
Bing was supposed to be an alternative to Google but they are pretty much taking the failure approach of copying instead of innovating.
I can imagine a half-dozen better ways of doing search but then I have to patent my ideas first 🙂
Don’t bother — Google will steal them anyway.
LMAO
It’s kind of amusing to realize that if Google died today, Bing would suck even worse from not being able to steal Google search results.
“Microsoft’s plan to stanch Bing’s….”
What is this stanch?
Could it be a really bad Stench?
I’m betting on stay, as in to stop, cease or contain. “They are looking to stay the hemorrhage of money.”
I would think staunch would be a better fit when it comes to hemorrhage.
As in “staunch the flow”
The NOAD defines states it’s like stopping blood flowing from a wound. I can’t think of a better analogy to Microsoft’s problems. However, their big problem is Baldy Balmer at the helm.
“However, their big problem is Baldy Balmer at the helm.”
STFU. Ballmer is doing one hell of a job. May he last as CEO for as long as it takes.
Personally, I can’t think of a combination of words I like better than “Microsoft” and “hemorrhage (of money)”. Somehow, it just brightens the day.
As far as I can tell, many people are switching to bing. If they are losing money though how does more viewers help? Its not a subscription service!
People or business switch to BANGED errr BING because of Moola. You know, payola? 😉
Actually, I do wish them luck- I’d like to see a real competitor to Google…
Anyone else but Microsoft please. I understand Google is as evil as MS so lets root for someone else beside these two dark lords of hell! 😉
bing is nice looking, but the results are pathetic
ms tought that getting a nice interface would make it more adopted but there is much more then that behind and google has mastered it. even in terms of translation taht is extremely accurate
there is only one search engine in the world and that is google
baidu is good within china but terrible for world infos
Looking at this from an Apple fanboi perspective, I’m not sure what would be preferable: for MS to lose (and Google to keep winning), or for MS to actually win this time (so that Google would lose).
Both of those are thoroughly detested by the Apple community, so I’d need some clarification from the core fan base, about which of the two evils is better/worse.
I agree with you. Kind of a lesser of two evils. But, Google cannot be left alone in this category.
I prefer Bing Maps to Google Maps, ever since Google took away the ability to simply copy the map URL and replaced that function with their *data mining software* forcing users to use buttons such as “Send this to a Friend” where they glean your email address and your friends.
As far as search goes, today there’s little difference. Bing, Google, Yahoo, all look similar and have similar features. I only worry that unlike Google and Yahoo, if MicroSoft gets too big they will use their position to leverage their lame technologies (such as Silverlight) into usage everywhere – like they tried to all through the 1990s.
You don’t need to use the email button. Use the link button beside it for the URL–it even has a handy URL shortener.
Time for a new Survey! “Who’s worse, Microcrap or Google?”
Yes, Microsoft has years trying to change the way people think, they want them to think that half baked and bad copied products are good, and people like “Lauren” are right for not chosing good products because people are not “cool” to have a mac.
I use 800-BING-411 because Google shut off 800-GOOG-411.
Frankly, 800-BING-411 is a piece of cr*p. The slightest background noise is interpreted as speech; it can’t understand speech worth a damn, and its listings are outdated.
About the only upside to it is that, in the unlikely event it finds what you want, it’ll connect you for free. (Which, since I have it on my Verizon Friends&Family list, means that pretty much all of my calls to businesses in the USA are airtime-free.)
Nice lateral calling structure. I’m wondering if there are other ways to do this that encompasses better recognition technology.
How many more times are they going to tell everyone that the panacea is just around the corner. How stupid do they believe people are. If it was going to have an impact it would have done so on launch how can iteration 2 or 3 or whatever it is going to change things in a changing World where they are declining in influence and when the big change to Bing itself covered up years of previous failure as if it were a brave new World. Delusional.
Hey, if Google keeps cheating (outside groups now claim that Google sends people to Google places before other listings even if the other place is more accurate.
If this is true, Google is now tweaking searches to put itself first. This could really hurt Google search.
Just a thought.
en
An expensive product that’ll never generate any real revenue.
Ballmer’s genius never ceases to amaze me.
I get that BING might not be making making any money. But even at zero revenue, how can an also-ran search engine possibly be bleeding at a mind-boggling rate of $1B per quarter? That takes a rare kind of executive fecklessness.
I think it’s becoming clear that Microsoft’s core competency of “dominating a market by outspending its competitors” no longer works reliably. And I can think of few other core competencies remaining they can fall back upon…
Keep in mind that in 1996 Apple’s own marketing division managed to blow $1B in one quarter by over-ordering market rejected Performa model Macs. We know what followed…
The problem, as usual: When an aging company lets marketing people into company management, aka Marketing-As-Management. IOW: Ballmer and his ilk are busily tanking Microsoft. And bless them for doing it!
This is the lidless eye you know versus the half blind, lidless eye who will be just as evil if they get more popular. No blinders – the lidless eye wants to track your every f**king move in order to vacuum every $ outta your pocketses… mobile payments, ads, tracking ads matched to your “interests”, no customer service, no mechanism to fix algo f-ups that can hose your business, search results favoring their business holdings, favoring big brands with lotsa $, etc.
M$ will be the same.
Privacy went away a long time ago; no returning that Ent back to the forest… meanwhile, what company can be trusted to provide a semblance of non-weighted search results?
I fear for the future where all your online moves, phone tracking, actions, money spending, etc. etc. are measured by software and used to judge and convict you. You sarcastically mentioned google bombing a friend and “they” subject you to the cavity search at the border. Or worse. Is it time to best to Assume they are all evil ??
This explains Microsoftʻs repeated failures in anything other then Office or Windows, the most imposed operating system in the world. Microsoftʻs arrogance is that only they know how users should do things, like search, so all the users have to do is learn to do things Microsoftʻs way and why canʻt the users just see that.
I use Bing because I want to support an alternative search engine. If Bing fails we all suffer. I do not see Bing any better or worse than Google. When people complain about Bing, I know they are just talking out of their ass.
Isn’t “leverage” one of the top business BINGO words? It’s right up there with synergy.
If I get bingo, can I yell out BING! – ?
Is anyone else getting a page popping up urging you to “search the app store for your .. blah blah” every time you use MDN?
It’s bloody annoying and I’d like it to stop please.