Bing – Microsoft’s New Decision Engine
Bing, Microsofts new decision engine, isn’t yet live to the majority of us peasants, but already the internet is full of positive chatter. From what I’m reading, Bing may well have an impact on the affiliate marketing industry in more ways than one! The new decision engine technology is due to be integrated in Windows7, which is a vast improvement on Vista, and already I’m benefiting from fantastic stability and we’re only in RC1… anyway I digress…
Bing.com is already rumoured to include features such as CashBack and Price Predictor, which presumably is just an integrated version of their Farecast utility, which predicts when the best time is to buy a ticket on a certain route (sadly only US based at the moment).
At All Things Digital last week, Steve Ballmer talked about Microsoft’s new search engine, explaining how it’s designed to help the surfer make smarter, faster more informed decisions that could save money at the same time.
Steve Ballmer at All Things Digital
Obviously the major players have had chance to review the new decision engine, with the hope that the PR machine will kick in, and be positive, which appears to be the case:
“While there have been a few occasions where I’ve found Google results to be better, the substantial gap that existed between Google and Live Search is largely gone with Bing.”
Greg Sterling – Search Engine Land
“Bing does much more than search for relevant links. It retrieves and processes data, and renders it smartly. That makes finding a great restaurant or an airline ticket, a snap. But the service is far from perfect.”
Ryan Singel – Wired
Sometimes though, reviews and reviewers will conclude that Microsoft’s ambition is to displace Google completely. Maybe Microsoft’s aim is to run along side Google, offering a viable alternative and simply increasing their current 10% search share?
Personaly I’m intrigued as to what effect this will have on Affiliate Marketing once goes live on a global basis. Will it be a major blow to cashback, comparison and even discount code website? From the Bing video introduction, it’s apparent that they plan to list online coupons and deals for merchants that offer particular products when searched for.
The end of cashback and coupon sites? I know a lot of people will be hoping so… Verb Up 
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