Ok, I admit it. I'm big enough to recognize that I REALLY like products from Apple. Both hardware and software, with just a few exceptions. On the other 'side' there's Microsoft, which I use to make a living because of its pervasiveness. There are a few Microsoft products and software programs that I like, but there is a big disparity between the amount of Microsoft products I purchase and the amount of Apple products I purchase.
That's on the software/hardware side, as for the cloud I'm definitely hooked on Google for GMail, Reader, Calendar and starting to really enjoy Picasa and of course the 800 pound gorilla of Google Search.....
Until last week.....
Now at first when Bing was announced, I looked at it with a LOT of skepticism. I mean I LOVE Google search, and Bing looks so..... MSN'sh. I gave it two searches, and compared it to Google and declared that it sucked. "Move on, nothing to see here....", but then that dang little voice in my head spoke up. "Now was that really a fair test of a search engine? TWO searches and you are ready to throw it under the bus?", ummmmm, well.... yeah, I guess you have a point there....
So, thus begin the 'trial' of Bing for a full week. I resolved to not use Google at all, no matter how bad I wanted too, but stick with Bing and watch it fail miserably. Then I could go back to Google with a clear conscience.
Weelllll, it's been a week, maybe a little more. And holy cow, Microsoft may have actually nailed this one. I've found myself using usually the first or second link in the results almost always, and I LOVE the image search. I don't know who was behind the search algorithms in Bing, but he deserves a HUGE bonus. I've really been hooked and I've actually been more productive in being able to find answers to issues at work.
So far so good Microsoft, the question is will it last?