Bing Spring 2010 Updates, Part 2

When: June 24

Health searches have proven to be one of Bing's biggest differentiators, as Microsoft has partnered with high-quality, reputable sources of information. So I'm a bit alarmed that "Wikipedia" is one of three Answer Bar tabs you'll see when searching health-related topics. That said, there are some interesting improvements here, including inline access to clinical trial information, new content sources (Harvard Health, CDC, TeensHealth, and others), and instant table answers for common health-related questions like, "what is the right blood pressure level?" (Note that this feature doesn't go online until later in this week, and I wasn't able to gain early access to it.)

But wait, there's more...

There's a more going on with the Spring 2010 Bing updates. For example, the Autos and Events experiences are getting minor tweaks in addition to the new user experience that's being pushed out across the service. But the big message here is that Microsoft is continuing to evolve Bing in ways that are both useful and interesting. The service's usage share gains on Google have been modest thus far, but I suspect that a lot of that has to do with the difficulty in changing peoples' habits. Those who try Bing almost universally like it quite a bit. And if you're looking for a service that's quite a bit more sophisticated than Google's rote, mechanical search results and simple querying capabilities, Bing is an excellent if underappreciated service that really does aid in both finding answers and making decisions. Check it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.