The wait is over for Internet users anxious to try out Microsoft’s latest search engine entry, Bing. The company launched the site two days before its slated release.

 

Originally scheduled to roll out worldwide on June 3, the search engine was available to users today. As TMC (News - Alert) recently reported, Bing, which was formerly known as Kumo, features a variety of services, including Bing Travel, Bing Cashback and Bing Maps for Enterprise. In addition to its main search function, users can click on tabs for "Images," "Videos," "Shopping," "News," "Maps," and "Travel" for a more refined search. An image of the site is available below.

In announcing the site last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (News - Alert) said Bing hopes to help users receive the information they're searching for faster. For example, pop-up windows reportedly will open summarizing information on a Web site to save users from clicking. What’s more, the site organizes search results with navigation and search tools and offers different categories of results.

 

“Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find,” Ballmer said in a statement. “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”

 

Last week, Internet users could preview the site through a video explaining the features. For example, a shopping feature lets users find small product photos and reviews. By clicking on a listing, users can view pricing and shipping information from various sellers. When looking up flight searches, Bing will give users the best rates and even offer predictions on whether fares will go up in price. The entry page is shown below.

 

Microsoft (News - Alert) is reportedly supporting Bing’s launch with a mega ad campaign. The company is spending $80 million to $100 million on the effort, which will focus on the notion that current search engines don’t work as well as consumers previously thought, TMC said.

 

The company hopes to build up the areas where Google (News - Alert) doesn't deliver exactly what users want, Mike Nichols, Microsoft's general manager for search products, told The Salt Lake Tribune.

 

"We don't have any illusion that people will wholesale change their behavior in a massive way," Nichols he added.

 

It’s too early to tell how well Bing will fare. But skeptics are already forming the opinion that Microsoft jumped the gun in announcing the site last week before it was ready to launch. According to The Business Insider, company’s announcement generated some 1,500 news stories, but traffic to Bing.com dropped from 1.7 percent of all Internet traffic two days before the launch to .9 percent one day before.

 

Microsoft’s new search engine comes on the heels of Google’s recent move to unveil new features designed to help Web surfers with complex searches. Recent comScore numbers show Google increasing its share to 64.2 percent of searches in the U.S. in April, versus and 20.4 percent for Yahoo and 8.2 percent for Microsoft.

 

Yet, that share could change if Google continues to experience problems with its server. Recent server outages at Google left Internet users frustrated and looking for alternative search engines.

 

Earlier this month, Web surfers were without Google News and e-mail for about an hour. The company explained it had to direct some of its Web traffic through Asia, which caused the traffic jam. As a result, 14 percent of Google users experienced “slow services, or even interruptions.” Then, a day later, Google users experienced a second round of outages, leaving many people venting their angry on Twitter.