Bing Gaining Market Share Faster 406
sopssa sends along a TechCrunch report on comScore qSearch numbers indicating that Bing is currently gaining market share faster than ever before. "In December, Microsoft's search engine gained another 0.4 percent to capture 10.7 percent of US search queries. That makes five straight months of steady share gains for Bing since it launched — Bing's share is up 2.7 percent in total since May, 2009. Google gained only 0.2 percent to end the month with 65.7 percent market share. What is even more interesting is if you look at year-over-year query growth rates for each search engine. Bing's growth is actually accelerating. Its growth rate in query volume was 49.4 percent in December."
Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
This is what happens when you make your search engine the default one for your web browser as well as make it difficult for someone to add or change this option.
Duh!
Re:Of course (Score:5, Informative)
Like Firefox, Opera and Chrome do with Google? It's not hard to change search engine in IE, btw
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
Two(?) words:
Windows 7
Re:Of course (Score:4, Informative)
It still doesn't explain anything, because IE6 also uses Bing as default search out of the box. Well, technically, it uses Live, but that redirects all search queries to Bing now.
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Not to mention that Microsoft migrated their various separate search engines (support, msdn, KB, etc... ) onto Bing so if you need any kind of information from the Evil Ones you are using the evil search.
Bing as a name makes me giggle anyway... to most people living in Scotland a 'Bing' is a heap of slag or other waste materials left over from coal mining and is often a toxic hazard to be avoided...
Re:Of course (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, I've always found it difficult to click the picture of google with the drop-down arrow and select another search provider from the many options present. And even worse is when I want to add another one, like MS's latest cash cow, requiring me to then click "Manage search engines..." and then "Get more search engines". Whole thing is counter-intuitive, I tell ya.
On the gains, didn't something happen recently to lock a lot of smartphones into Bing? Can't remember the article.
Re:Of course (Score:4, Informative)
a bunch of Verizon blackberrys
Re:Of course (Score:5, Informative)
As an avid blackberry user and enthusiast on Verizon, in an office full of blackberry addicts, I will tell you you are dead wrong sir.
I can not change the default search provider on my Storm 2, I have tried.
I did not install it either. When I purchased the Storm 2 Google was the default search engine, literally over night it was changed, with out my permission and against my wishes. The same happened to every single blackberry in my office.
The only option I have is to type google into my blackberry's browser to use it. That is hardly an option at all.
Also I did not want the Bing application installed to my blackberry and yet it was done for me over the air. I have not been able to uninstall it either. It does not show up in the applications in the options at all.
What option is this?
~Zehaeva
Re:Of course (Score:5, Funny)
Like Firefox, Opera and Chrome do with Google? It's not hard to change search engine in IE, btw
Hey....
Shut up.
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And all the OS's that include those as their default browser over IE and the vast market share those OS's have.
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
It's actually pretty easy to change providers in IE - you just click on the drop down beside the search field and select 'Find more providers'. Brings up a page with numerous other search providers you can add (Google, ebay, etc). Also, I think if you go to google manually in IE, there is a prompt in the top right to switch (or at least there used to be - not sure if they killed this).
Also, if you were to apply the same logic, the marketshare gains by google would be non-trivial since they are the default homepage/provider in Firefox. Personally, while I do think the defaults do influence things, I also think you are overstating them slightly. Google's brand alone assures that a lot of non-savvy computer users will still go there despite defaults in their browser, simply because 'google' has become synonymous with 'search' to a large extent.
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
I did this a few weeks ago and Microsoft makes it intentionally difficult — first, most casual users don't even know that the "Find more providers" list is there. Second, it's not obviously clear that you'd use the "Find more providers" option to change providers; i.e. get rid of Bing completely and use Google instead, rather than add additional options to the menu. Third, if and when you do get to the Microsoft page of search providers, when I went there, Google wasn't even on the front page. It took a number of subsequent clicks to even find it, which seems totally inappropriate given Google's popularity.
This is 100% the usual Microsoft monopoly-leveraging SOP.
Re:Of course (Score:4, Insightful)
So, clicking the drop down next to the search bar in IE, and selecting 'manage search providers' or whatever it is, is more difficult than clicking the drop down next to the search bar in FireFox and selecting 'Manage Search Engines'.
Funny, their methods seem identical except for Firefox has its drop down on the left, MS is on the right, and there's a bit of synonymous noun/verb switching.
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So, clicking the drop down next to the search bar in IE, and selecting 'manage search providers' or whatever it is, is more difficult than clicking the drop down next to the search bar in FireFox and selecting 'Manage Search Engines'.
I'm not going to say that it's more difficult, but rather it's less obvious. People who download & install FF will tend to be more tech savvy than those who use IE because that's what came with their computer. One nice thing that FF does is provide a list of icons for some more common search engines, whereas IE gives you live search or "Find more providers...", and it is a separate drop-down control on a button next to, not within the search window.
I think by and large it's new Windows 7 computer sales
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
Google is on the front page (for now), but for about a year it wasn't on the front page of:
http://www.ieaddons.com/en/searchproviders [ieaddons.com]
Ask.com, WikiPedia and ESPN were beating it out, and you had to scroll down the second page about halfway to find it. I'm glad to see it is showing up on the front page.
Honestly, I can't blame them for not wanting to help you find google, but any browser these days has to be able to add a google search engine in less than 2 clicks or it's very annoying for most people.
-Dan
Re:Of course (Score:5, Informative)
For an existing install, I can't say as I haven't tried it. But it seems odd to me that the first run would have data that a subsequent run would not.
And another thing (Score:5, Informative)
MSDN is now powered by Bing too. So every windows programmer in the world is now making Bing queries by default. That's got to boost things a bit.
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Who doesn't use Google to search MSDN? I haven't tried MSDN's own search recently, but at least it used to be utter shit. Slow and bad results. You search for an API function, it turns up the Windows CE version near the top, with the normal one maybe buried software. Fucking useless.
I'm not sure what engine it was using before. Perhaps it was MSN/Live Search, actually, as that was also rather infamous for poor search results.
Now that it uses Bing as a backend, it actually works fine. For example, searching for CreateWindow [microsoft.com] gets the Win32 function on top, then the WinCE one, then a bunch of other links that are quite relevant (WM_CREATE, a sample application etc). It also has a decent presentation of search results with no information overload - just a very simplistic link listing, and
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Google is on the first page for the 4 machines I just tried it on.
Also if one read the stupid wizard instead of clicking straight through, they have a chance to change the default search providers the first time they start IE. Option 1 is select all defaults, option 2 is custom. Then select an option to bring up a page allow one to select the search provider.
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That is the same what Google does with their products. Just try to install Google Earth, Google Desktop or anything else they offer.
Re:Of course (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly. I suspect the increased search traffic is due to BCB, or Bing Cash Back if you're not into deals websites. Almost every single slickdeal [slickdeals.net] post in the month of December had BCB as part of their slick prices. I used it myself for several purchases I was planning on making anyway.
Basically when I wanted to get 20% cash back on a purchase at Walmart I went to bing and searched "Walmart Bluray" and it returned an ad offering cash back at Walmart.
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
Here is the exact conversation:
me : 'Mom, I want you to change your IE search engine from Bing to Google.'
Mom: 'Why? What's the difference?'
me : 'Google is better.'
Mom: 'Nah, it doesn't matter to me, I just type what I want in there and the results show'
me : 'Can you at least try?'
Mom: 'Fine, where do I do it?'
me : '(start explaining)'
Mom: 'No, no, no, forget it, that's too complicated. Stop with the geek talk; I'm still confused on how Foxfire (sic) can use the same Internet as Windows... how do you expect me to figure this out?'
me :
Re:Of course (Score:5, Funny)
You need to upgrade to a smarter mother. Mine's fine with that.
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
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Assuming that Joe Sixpack knows that "Find more providers" really means "Change search engine"...and then after he;s added google via the tortuous web page he can navigate his way around to change the default setting (most users I've seen select google from the drop-down list and assume it changed the default - which it ought to, but this is Microsoft). And assuming he didn't install windows live or anything like that which will change it back again...then yes, it's really easy to change.
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So what is the answer? Make the interface to only allow Google to be added? Seems a bit unfair on the other search engines out there.
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Perhaps you know how to change the default search engine... but I can garantee you that 75% (AT LEAST) of all computer users DOESN'T KNOW HOW... Even if the buttons/options are correctly labeled...
And your point is exactly what? What makes you think it's the more right thing to do to have Google as the default engine? Or should they remove search boxes all together from IE? Should Google set Chrome have Bing as the default search engine instead of themself? Should firefox change to Bing instead of Google too? Should they all set to altavista? Should they just ditch the whole thing and have no searching at all?
Think a little, please.
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I prefer Google for straight up search, but Bing is nice for some specialty searches, e.g. hotels with price comparisons.
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Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't the real issue the base number? (Score:4, Insightful)
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What I've always said: "Anybody can generate $1 million in revenue, if they are given a $2 million marketing budget to do it with."
I will counter with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuil [wikipedia.org]. Money may make things easier, but nothing is a sure thing.
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Is it really hard to change your browser in IE7/8? I would have said it was just as easy to change the search provider in IE as it is in Firefox. What makes you claim that it's "difficult to add or change this option" ??
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Oh wait. It does.
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Including Verizon, which MS paid to change the search on all their smartphones to bing (including blackberry).
Without telling their users, or offering a way to opt out.
Oh, and on several (including blackberry) it changed the search field in the browser app to ONLY use bing. You can't change it back or to a different one.
So yeah, I would expect their usage went up a couple points.
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Also - If you go to to weather.com, it now uses Bing for the weather radar. Does that factor into this at all?
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Come on. Just admit you dont like microsoft. It is very easy to change the default search engine in IE and Firefox. BTW Firefox comes default with google...
If firefox can default to google, IE can default to bing.
Both can be changed. There is little difference, just microsoft hate.
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This is what happens when you make your search engine the default one for your web browser as well as make it difficult for someone to add or change this option.
Duh!
Indeed. It would be very interesting to know the number of Bing searches that originate from the search toolbar widget in IE.
And of those, what percentage are for non-savvy users searching Bing for "google.com".
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You can even make tabbed homepages, if that's your thing.
Man, that was hard.
"Find More Providers" (Score:3, Informative)
This is what happens when you make your search engine the default one for your web browser as well as make it difficult for someone to add or change this option.
The drop down menu in IE 8 Search will take you to this page:
Add-ons Gallery: Search Providers [ieaddons.com]
Here's a sampling of the English language options. You have 25 languages to chose from:
Amazon
Google
Hulu
New Egg
New York Times
Wikipedia
Win 7 Comparability
Create your own Search Provider [ieaddons.com]
Add your own search provider to your copy of Internet Explorer by foll
Re:Of course (Score:5, Interesting)
I was surprised to find a google search returned no hits from M$ itself, but when I switched to bing, it worked. It seems that M$ is blocking google from searching it's site.
Really? I just copied the phrase from your post "Exchange Certificate on a winmo smartphone" into Google and the first result [microsoft.com] was a technet article at Microsoft. The best that Bing could do with the same phrase was some press release stuff about the phones (at least on the first page).
I know the results vary depending on your country and phase of the moon, but it seems a bit premature to suggest that Microsoft are blocking google when a million other test searches could easily prove that wrong.
Then after installing XP on another computer, and updating everything (since she wouldnt) I found that in the newest IE I couldnt use google as my search, the "easy" way of adding it was gone.
In other branches of this thread, everyone else has already mentioned the Find more providers [ieaddons.com] option (which really doesn't seem that hard), but what "easy" way has been removed?
Re:Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
I stop arguing with someone's post once I see a 'M$'. It's obvious that they're either 12, a zealot, or a karma whore making up stuff that moderators want to hear. (It worked well here, the GP is at +4 interesting right now).
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I search Google all the time and get MS knowledge base articles coming up frequently as well as links to other parts of their site. So, no, MS is not blocking Google from their site. Your search probably just had more relevant first page links from other sites, for whatever reasons.
yes! (Score:2, Insightful)
Sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sure... (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean like with Google and Firefox?
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I actually prefer Bing's product search to googles, i think they do a better job of presenting stuff. Otoh i use google for all my searching.
That being said, I wouldn't have used bing in the first place if it weren't for the cashback. Earned $455 to date.
Re:Sure... (Score:4, Informative)
Might be interesting if you haven't read it.
Bing is pretty good (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Bing is pretty good (Score:5, Insightful)
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These are all valid concerns unless of course Google implements such features then Bing has a new set of issues.
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I find Bing horribly annoying simply because I anticipate certain results when I enter a phrase into Google, but Bing returns results that I don't want -- simply because I'm so used to what I would get if I Googled it instead.
I am unable to actually critique Bing as a search engine because I'm constantly thrown off by the search results. I'm not sure if Bing simply has an inferior search algorithm, or if it's simply myself equating different with bad.
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Wasn't there a story about results in Bing being manipulated not too long ago? [slashdot.org]
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I don't make a habit of searching for reasons to hate MS so meh
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I've found that bing is useful in specific circumstances. For example, try searching for a restaurant in Bing. I find the interface much better, and the conglomeration of reviews to be far more helpful and interesting. This goes for most product searches as well. Bing maps also has a cool feature where you can get directions based on current traffic conditions. Handy for when you want to get someplace when the city is gridlocked in rush hour.
Searching for programming related questions, though, it's next t
Market Variety (Score:4, Interesting)
While we should probably be happy to see more than one viable candidate for the search engine market, none seem to address privacy very well. Both Bing/Yahoo and Google are quite happy to tell you that they'll track user activity and use it to make a profit. Are there any viable alternatives left with more favorable privacy policies?
Re:Market Variety (Score:5, Informative)
Not alternatives, but Scroogle [scroogle.org] hides your searches among thousands of others (and removes Google's click-tracking javascripts and so on).
How much would you pay for it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Obviously the costs of operating a search engine are pretty significant and the market for people who'd pay for privacy is quite small. I suspect it'd need to be in the $20-50/month range, and i think that would deter a lot of people.
Little in life is free, and businesses that run on millions of dollars of hardware and fast internet connections are going to need to finance that.
In any event, if i'm going to have to deal with ads online then i'd PREFER that they were tailored to things i'm interested in.
Look, it's actually not bad (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Look, it's actually not bad (Score:5, Interesting)
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This is also true for me. Google Maps can't even show satellite images closely, while Bing's maps tool has close-up bird-eye views and a lot more info about businesses and places.
Google is starting to lag behind.
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And even more so, who actually types in www.bing.com or www.google.com to do a search, now that every browser has a search box you just tab to? or just write the search query to address box.
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If I had to hazard a guess, I suspect upwards of 93% of people, including me, still type in those addresses.
Why you ask? Force of habit, don't want the extra space of the search box taking up room, don't know that you can usually do a search from the address bar, don't care about the fancy way of doing things, don't have ADD and think they need to shave
Shall I g
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Setting Bing as your default browser?
Hmm.. Are you for real? Bing is a search engine... Firefox/IE/Opera/Safari ect are browsers..
So before your first sentence is complete I have deducted that you have nothing of value to say what so ever since you seem to be unable to differentiate between a browser and a search engine.
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Not that I'm remotely a fan of Microsoft or their business practices, but to the extent that they do compete on their merits, they don't always suck, and Google could certainly use some competition. I haven't tried Bing yet, but I'll get around to it eventually, and if it's better than Google, at least for some things, I'll use it. And quite frankly, I have been increasingly dismayed by Google's search results lately, which seem to be slanted more and more to driving sales. That would be fine if the only th
Re:Look, it's actually not bad (Score:5, Interesting)
Just for fun, I tried Honda Civic as a search. Actually, Bing sucks. Where the results differ, Bing has either a comparison between Civic and Integra windshields, or an ungodly list of used car sites. The one bonus item: it actually has sites that show the manuals for various Honda/Acura cars. Here's the deal though: if I type in "Honda Civic", I want information about the car, not about a manual for it, and I don't want to buy one. Especially not a used one. Google on the other hand presents me with sites that have information about the car - edmunds review, price comparisons, guide sites, etc. Stuff that will help me know more about the car.
If I want specific topics, I'll search for them, thank you very much.
I found similar issues with the maps site: directions are easier to manipulate in Google, and Google lets me search by public transit, or by walking. One good feature in Bing: get directions based on traffic. Google does something similar with "avoid highways", but it's not the same thing.
You are right, Google hasn't evolved much in its core business of search - but that's good, because there isn't much that can happen, until the semantic web (ha!) comes along. Bing tries to pretend it can do semantics, but it really can't. It's just faking it fairly badly. Oh, and final gripe: the stuff it does to wikipedia pages is nasty, and on its own a reason to avoid it like a plague. Yes, I don't have to use the readability feature, but I can't turn off the side bar where that option sits. If I go to a site, I either run my own scripts, or I want to see the page as the site creators intended. Not what MS thinks would be a good version.
In tl;dr format: Google gets out of my way. Bing is and stays in my face. Google wins.
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Easy to do (Score:3, Insightful)
Gaining market share for Bing is easy when you:
1) Already have the market for browsers (IE)
2) Make Bing the default search for said browsers
3) Direct all search traffic from all sites even remotely Microsoft affiliated through Bing
So what we would expect is everyone who just uses whatever is in front of them to start using Bing, because that's what Microsoft is putting in front of them.
=Smidge=
Re:Easy to do (Score:5, Insightful)
Wasn't all that being done for Live Search too though? And that market share was way below Bing's and dropping. It's something more than just those 3 items.
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Very true, but I don't think Microsoft paid enough people to lock in Live Search on their sites.
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All Verizon blackberry storms now default (unchangably) to Bing. I'm sure that helps.
Stupid reporting (Score:5, Insightful)
In other news, my 1-year-old child has gained massive weight and height, while I, unfortunately, have not gotten even a millimeter taller.
Google is the established leader, with a massive market share that is unlikely to grow much further. Bing is the new kid on the block, starting at zero. Of course Bing is going to grow. There is nothing else for it to do. Even if it's lousy, it is impossible for it to not gain share. This is like comparing the Zune marketshare [gizmodo.com] with the iPod.
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Strange.. (Score:3, Insightful)
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But Google didn't lose - it gained! (Score:5, Informative)
And in that timespan, Yahoo dropped from 20.5% to 17.3%. AOL also dropped from 3.8% to 2.6%. Guess what - MSN isn't stealing Google's shares yet. It's stealing from Google's competitors.
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However, your case is not quite analogous. As TFS says, Bing gained 0.4% while Google gained 0.2%. Presumably Bing is gaining market share from search engines other than Google, and doing so faster because it has such a small share and is being massively promoted.
Strange.. (Score:2, Informative)
i look after quite a few sites in the UK and Bing is nowhere, less than 1% for most of them
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Good (Score:2, Insightful)
Google needs the competition at this point. Google search has become the Windows of search engines.
Do you YAHOO!? (Score:4, Funny)
Meanwhile, on the Internet (Score:2, Interesting)
Possible explanation for Bing's results... (Score:2)
Contradicting numbers (Score:5, Informative)
http://searchengineland.com/nielsen-yahoo-bing-down-google-up-in-december-33464 [searchengineland.com]
http://www.hitwise.com/us/press-center/press-releases/search-enginedec2009/ [hitwise.com]
Course they are, they are paying people to use it! (Score:2)
I use bing. When I go to buy something. I've collected hundreds of dollars from their cash back program. Outside of that, google is superior.
Once again a misleading story about Bing (Score:5, Informative)
If you look at the Nielsen report here: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/nielsen-reports-december-u-s-search-rankings/ [nielsen.com]
You'll see that they list Microsofts search sites as "MSN/Windows Live/Bing Search", which is a bit more explanatory I would say.
And if you check Hitwise, where they list searches BY domain name, www.bing.com LOST 4%. (http://www.hitwise.com/us/press-center/press-releases/search-enginedec2009/)
How Many Real? (Score:2)
Trying to check on the configuration of one of my switches using its built in html interface, I entered 10.0.0.101
Switch somehow had gone back to its default IP address, so it didn't respond.
Moments later, I was given a very helpful list of search queries for 10.0.0.101 by Bing.
Thank you Bing!!! Thank you for reminding me why I prefer Firefox over IE.
It's the first page. (Score:2)
A lot of people I know that like Bing, like the Bing picture on the 1st page. It was well market researched.
Google will win anyway (Score:2)
Looked at differently...Who is converting more? (Score:2)
According to the TFA, Google had about 65.6% of searches in November, and gained 0.2% additional in December; Microsoft had 10.3% in November, and gained 0.4% additional in December. So who is doing better? Well, if you operationalize that question as "who is converting a greater share of the searches that they don't already have?":
Google gained 0.2% of searches in December, out of the 34.4% of searches that weren't already being done on Google sites -- converting just about 0.58% of non-Google searches.
Mic
Let's get one thing straight (Score:3, Interesting)
*Yes, I realise that some people have actually switched to it - but I'm sure that 98% of Bing users upgraded IE or are turning on Win7 for the first time.
That's a copout (Score:2)
no wonder... it's set as default on all the IE 8 and windows 7 installations i have made.
That's a copout. On IE8, when you first run it, it specifically gives you choices on things like search engine defaults, and even offers to download a list of more providers if you don't like the current choices (of which Google is one).
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IE keeps your previous default search engine when you upgrade it, actually.