Microsoft to consolidate MSN and Bing
The early reviews of Microsoft’s new Bing search engine — oh, sorry, they want me to call it a decision engine — agree that Bing is (a) pretty, and (b) a perfectly good decision engine.
Now, Microsoft plans to retrofit its MSN site to integrate better with Bing. CNET’s Ina Fried interviewed Erik Jorgensen, the MSN exec in charge of tying the two sites together. He said: “Microsoft needs to ensure that it is less visually jarring when one moves back and forth between MSN and Bing.”
Microsof’t’s search successes have been in local search, shopping, and travel. These were profitable verticals for MSN’s previous search engine, Live Search. The company’s plan is to drive as many searches as possible from MSN to Bing.
MSN’s own slide, above, illustrates Jorgensen’s challenge: MSN’s tacky graphics. Bing’s visual aesthetic — more colorful than Apple, more cinematic than Google — could change Microsoft’s image away from the old Blue Screen of Death.
Here’s my suggestion for Jorgensen: Lose the blue. It still says “screen of death” in many customers’ minds. Give MSN — heck, give all of Microsoft a new look, crafted by the Bing design team. It wouldn’t be hard to make Google, Yahoo and yes, even Apple seem less classy.
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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