Comment Feed for Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again) (Coffeehouse on Channel 9)

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

DouglasH — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:32:03 GMT

Kumo means "spider" or "cloud" from Japanese.

And Virtual Earth is the first announced to move to the Bing Brand, Bing Maps for Enterprise.

Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Zeo — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:44:46 GMT

I laughed pretty hard when I read this:

Q: What does "Bing" stand for?

A: "Bing Is Not Google".

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Bent Rasmussen — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:25:09 GMT

"Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)"

Can you substantiate this? Sure, they create a special version of Live Search but how do you get from that to a total rebrand of everything?
Dramatic effect?

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Gio — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:49:39 GMT

Finding a name today is hard because everything has been registered somehow. I think Bing has a couple of advantages as people wrote before: easy to remember, easy to type (though I keep on typing ginb) and in en-US it can be used as a verb (to bing, bing-ing, bing-it!). Personally I don't like it, but probably I will get used to it. I just hope the rebraning does not cover the other windows live products as now I got used to their names.

I remember when I was looking for a name for my own company: I paid a professional company to help me out and their suggestions were Ipsoa, Hyperion, etc. I sat down with a friend and a few beers and after two hours of brainstorming we came up with Blue Ice. Honestly that sounds much better to me and considering the investment it is definitely worth it. Marketing can be such a waist of money!!!

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Bent Rasmussen — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:45:34 GMT

[H] Love it

Appropos Google; The name isn't quite maningless, it was supposed to be Googol but they messed it up - but it still bears close association to that number, for obvious reasons. And further, Googleplex bears a close resemblence to Googolplex. The naming mistake is actually not that bad of an idea. Google rolls better off the tongue.

I'm not sure what Bing means and what the marketing people were thinking about but there are probably some meaning there.

Bing it?

It looks like Bing is a search engine with domain-specific support, assisting in specialized queries with actual data, not just indexed sites.

Kumo was supposedly a code-name, so who cares about that one. Although aren't we getting tired of having nice code-names replaced with terribly verbose finalized names; Indigo vs WCF; Avalon vs WPF; rolling off the tongue?

Bing | Cheapest laptop with blablabla | Go

Bingo!

You don't Bing. You bin/go!

OK enough nonsense from me for now :-D

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

jugatsu — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:29:14 GMT

Bing makes perfect sense in en-US. Kumo never would have made it as a verb here; Kumo'ed sounds too much like comode, which is a toilet. Any other use of Kumo as a verb doesn't roll off the American tounge; Kumo'ing, Kumo it, all nails on a chalkboard.

Bing in the States often indicates something is complete and/or correct. Pretty close to "Bingo!" when an answer to a question is correct, or "Badda-Bing!", etc. Perfect sense. They chose well, I think. Given Microsoft's history of naming things it could have been bad, real bad.

Now "Azure", I have problems with that one; where's my codeine.... :D

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Ray7 — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:09:06 GMT

I wonder if it ever occurred to them that the problem may not be name-related?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Ion Todirel — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:01:21 GMT

that explains it :)

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

PaoloM — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:05:55 GMT

Bing == Bing Is Not Google

(thanks, PINE)

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Tommy Carlier — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:57:23 GMT

Google == Googol == 10^100

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

David Oliver — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:55:36 GMT

Do you know I've been thinking about this and it's actually all very clever!

We are all talking about the name, so we will remember it - and this is the key part - because if we remember the name - ***for whatever reason*** - we are more likely to use it (aka 'see what all the fuss is about')

... and if the product is actually good ... we are more likely to continue to use it.

It is a silly name but it is a catchy-attention-seeking name. If it is a success, in time, we will forget how silly it is.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

ManipUni — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:12:58 GMT

The word "Google" means nothing. Just like "Kumo" means nothing. While "Bing" does already have a meaning...

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

William Kempf — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:58:19 GMT

Google means nothing? Huh?

I was certainly not attacking Google. I was using Google as an example. Meaningful names aren't necessary to be effective.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

ManipUni — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:56:02 GMT

But Google means nothing so you can turn it into whatever you wish. Kumo might have been the same way.

Plus attacking Google isn't really a valid defense of Microsoft's new name and constanting rebranding every two years...

Re: Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

William Kempf — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:52:30 GMT

Because Google was such a great name? If you don't know what a google is, the name sounds even sillier than Bing. If you do know what google means, it still seems like a very silly name for a search engine.

As for whether or not it will be any good... it already has one surprising self proclaimed "fan". http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/255750/Woz-Bing!-Apple-Co-Founder-a-%22Big-Fan%22-of-Microsofts-New-Search-Engine

I'm not sure how it's going to work for my most common searches (all having to do with software development), but it looks like a dream come true for the average "consumer search". Unlike Live Search, I'm sure I'll use Bing fairly frequently, even if it doesn't become my default search engine.

Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

David Oliver — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:17:39 GMT

Agreed.

I've been using other search engines recently as Google does seem to have lost focus on who exactly is the customer, perhaps it's still in Beta?

Bing is a silly name but it is a word that is used dramatically already in every-day-speech to mean 'surprise' so I do get it, but it is daft so Microsoft is going to be on the back-foot from the get-go with this one.

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

rhm — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:02:43 GMT

OK, the name is stupid - reminds of Chandler BING from Friends - but will it be any good as a search engine? Got to say I'm not that impressed with Google lately, they've been letting SEOers get away with murder, so there's a chance a better search could get at least one user :)

Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

webmonkey — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:46:20 GMT

That sounds like what Ballmer was saying at D7, that the reason for the name is they wanted something just for search.

Re: Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

David Oliver — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:45:10 GMT

So is this the Basic, Express, Home, Business, Pro, Ultimate, Standard, Enterprise R2 2009 version?

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Scott — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:27:31 GMT

Are you sure? I thought they just renamed Kumo to Bing. At least Bing.com makes it seem like it's only search.

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

Bass — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:27:07 GMT

You forgot "Active", "Active" was Microsoft's pet brand of the late 90s.

Microsoft Active Windows Bing Hotmail Live MSN Office Communicator Messenger 2003 .Net Professional

Sorry.. :}

Re: Microsoft rebrands Hotmail/MSN/Live/.Net/Microsoft Search (Again)

figuerres — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:54:35 GMT

OMG -- STOP THE MADDNESS!!!! :S :|