Indexing & Search Engine: Microsoft Bing's Visual Search Takes On Google's Similar Images
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Microsoft launched the beta version of its Visual Search for Bing, its search engine, on Sept. 14. Visual Search presents its users with a series of image galleries, which can then be clicked and scrolled through to find a particular one - all without ever having to type in a search term.
Google Labs produced a similar visual-search feature, called Similar Images, earlier this year. Despite sharing some outward characteristics, Microsoft's and Google's still-in-development products have sharp differences. For example, Similar Images dictates that the user type in a search term before being able to search through galleries; it also lacks some of the granular-search options of Bing's Visual Search.
As the battle for U.S. search engine market share intensifies between Google and Microsoft, both companies are looking for ways to gain and retain users through offering an ever-wider array of search functionality. In the following slide show, eWEEK uses the search for a smartphone to illustrate how both companies' thinking differs when it comes to visual search.
Microsoft Bing's Visual Search Takes On Google's Similar Images
Microsoft launched the beta version of its Visual Search for Bing, its search engine, on Sept. 14. Visual Search presents its users with a series of image galleries, which can then be clicked and scrolled through to find a particular one - all without ever having to type in a search term. Google Labs produced a similar visual-search feature, called Similar Images, earlier this year. Despite sharing some outward characteristics, Microsoft's and Google's still-in-development products have sharp differences. For example, Similar Images dictates that the user type in a search term before being able to search through galleries; it also lacks some of the granular-search options of Bing's Visual Search.As the battle for U.S. search engine market share intensifies between Google and Microsoft, both companies are looking for ways to gain and retain users through offering an ever-wider array of search functionality. In the following slide show, eWEEK uses the search for a smartphone to illustrate how both companies' thinking differs when it comes to visual search.
