Ask HN: Finish the following sentence: GNU: GNU is not Unix. Bing: Bing is not
19 comments
They might enjoy the "Bing Is Not Google" backronym but obviously they were more interested in the sound effect in advertising (sounds better than that annoying "Ya-hooooooo" Yahoo! uses) and the possibility to use "bing" as a verb: "Bing it" vs. "Google it." (Xerox-ish trademark dilution isn't as big of an issue as gaining the initial mindshare.)
Based on the reactions of people I've watched TV with, the Microsoft advertising is doing a great job of getting the name out there and making people feel good about the brand. Everybody is curious about what nonsense the characters are going to come up with and a few of them even imitate the "bing!" sound effect. But, I asked a few of them if they've actually tried Bing and they said no. They all just use whatever's set in the browser's search box and they see prompts for changing the default search engine as a commonplace annoyance ("Every time I download a program, it always want to install some toolbar or something.")
Anyway, I think the name was a great choice.
Based on the reactions of people I've watched TV with, the Microsoft advertising is doing a great job of getting the name out there and making people feel good about the brand. Everybody is curious about what nonsense the characters are going to come up with and a few of them even imitate the "bing!" sound effect. But, I asked a few of them if they've actually tried Bing and they said no. They all just use whatever's set in the browser's search box and they see prompts for changing the default search engine as a commonplace annoyance ("Every time I download a program, it always want to install some toolbar or something.")
Anyway, I think the name was a great choice.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bing+is+not+google&hl=e...
Sounds like a working title that stuck.
First hit of above search for me: Urban Dictionary: bing 10 Aug 2003 - BING. Best Information Not Google.
Sounds like a working title that stuck.
First hit of above search for me: Urban Dictionary: bing 10 Aug 2003 - BING. Best Information Not Google.
Didn't everyone realize this six months ago?
Frankly no. I just sat here and it suddenly hit me.
Congratulations on being a whole lot smarter than me :) (don't worry about it, you probably share that distinction with a large part of the population of the planet).
And is there any take on this being an oversight or was it on purpose ?
Congratulations on being a whole lot smarter than me :) (don't worry about it, you probably share that distinction with a large part of the population of the planet).
And is there any take on this being an oversight or was it on purpose ?
I meant no offense!
But within a week of the new engine being announced (or rather renamed) it was pointed out by TC and other news outlets.
But within a week of the new engine being announced (or rather renamed) it was pointed out by TC and other news outlets.
> I meant no offense!
none taken, hence the :)
> But within a week of the new engine being announced (or rather renamed) it was pointed out by TC and other news outlets.
I completely missed that, I was pretty busy with other stuff when bing launched.
none taken, hence the :)
> But within a week of the new engine being announced (or rather renamed) it was pointed out by TC and other news outlets.
I completely missed that, I was pretty busy with other stuff when bing launched.
An item from a dead HN thread
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=632022
commented on plausible interpretations of "bing" as a Chinese word. Without tone markings, it's hard to know whether joking that it means "ice" makes more sense than joking that it means "sick," and in any event the official Microsoft rendering of "Bing" in Chinese turns the pronunciation into "bi ying," as indicated in the link above.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=632022
commented on plausible interpretations of "bing" as a Chinese word. Without tone markings, it's hard to know whether joking that it means "ice" makes more sense than joking that it means "sick," and in any event the official Microsoft rendering of "Bing" in Chinese turns the pronunciation into "bi ying," as indicated in the link above.
On purpose?! By a company that chooses pink as the color for special edition Zune, to just name one example of demonstrable lack of taste? I don't think they are more subtle than, er, Yahoo or what about Tumblr... need I go on?
Maybe in the head of one single advertising guy who wanted to.. but then again, how many advertising people know that GNU even exists? Let alone iterational humour.
Bing is not good?
Bing Is Not Gaining.
If they did they didn't think very hard about it: Bing is not good.
Bing is not so awful.
Actually, I like Bing better than I thought I would; for one thing, the background pictures :-)
Also Microsoft is very generous with providing free REST style search and spelling APIs (it took about 2 minutes to write a Ruby client, which I posted here http://markwatson.com/blog/2009/06/ruby-client-for-search-an...)
I am pretty much "anti Microsoft", but I try to not be dogmatic about it :-)
Actually, I like Bing better than I thought I would; for one thing, the background pictures :-)
Also Microsoft is very generous with providing free REST style search and spelling APIs (it took about 2 minutes to write a Ruby client, which I posted here http://markwatson.com/blog/2009/06/ruby-client-for-search-an...)
I am pretty much "anti Microsoft", but I try to not be dogmatic about it :-)
Bing is not kayak, eventhough it looks like it?
bing is not gnu?
Ok, ha hah, everybody posts "Bing is Not Good", let's get some originality here:
Bing is Not Gratifying. Bing is Nothing Great. Bing is Notoriously Godawful. Bing is Nefarious Google.
Or to be really rebellious one can find positive acronyms for Bing. :-p
Bing is Not Gratifying. Bing is Nothing Great. Bing is Notoriously Godawful. Bing is Nefarious Google.
Or to be really rebellious one can find positive acronyms for Bing. :-p
M$ is not big on recursive acronyms so I doubt they really explored the possibilities.
Or maybe they are just starting.
Or maybe they are just starting.
cough XNA's Not Acronymed ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA )
Dammit ;P
GNU: GNU is not Unix. Bing: Bing is not Goddammit
Bing is a Nockoff of Google.
Bing is not gniB.
[deleted]
Bing is not [a] greedy algorithm?
a bingo!
Wonder if they saw that one coming when microsoft decided to launch their new search engine as "BING".
And if they did it intentionally then props to them.