Jakob Nielsen warns us that users hate change. He recommends that “it’s best to stay with a familiar design and evolve it gradually. In the long run, however, incrementalism eventually destroys cohesiveness, calling for a new UI architecture. ”

You often hear design team members (or their management) say, “We need a fresh design.” This usually gets redesign projects off on a wrong footing, with the wrong goals and strategy.

Typically, a fresh design will be a worse design simply because it’s new and thus breaks user expectations. A better strategy is to play up familiarity and build on users’ existing knowledge of how a system works.

Let’s consider Microsoft Office. The suite was introduced in 1989 as an incremental packaging of older stand-alone apps like Word (from 1983) and Excel (from 1984). By 2000, the underlying UI architecture was 17 years old, and MS Office was creaking at the edges. I frequently complained that the old approach was a muddled set of thrown-together features — and that the ever-more complex set of menus and dialog boxes made it hard for users to find most of them.

Read Jakob Nielsen‘s Alertbox, September 21, 2009

MadCap Mimic 4.0 is a native XML application designed for creating software simulations and tutorials. The newest version lets you import PowerPoint files, has a new Flash engine, print and output options that support conditionalized publishing. While it will take time to dislodge Adobe FrameMaker, especially legacy users, publishing managers and those responsible for running Technical Writing depts should download a trial copy of this.

PowerPoint Import Simplifies Reuse of E-learning Content

You can now directly import files from Microsoft PowerPoint.

• Technical authors and trainers can create a new movie from existing PowerPoint files or insert slides into an existing movie.
• Mimic 4.0 lets you do this by converting master PowerPoint layout slides into master frames.
• Mimic 4.0 supports “.ppt” and “.pptx” formats, as well as PowerPoint images, background images, shape groups, text boxes, and more.

Enhanced Flash

Mimic 4.0 includes a completely rewritten Flash Compiler that improves the image quality of Flash movie output.

Madcap claims that it reduces the file size by three times smaller than with previous versions.

XPS and PDF First-Class Output Types

It also enhances the print output experience.

The Adobe Portable Document (PDF) and Microsoft XML Paper Specification (XPS) print formats are now available as output types, rather than simple exports.

This will help technical writers and others involved in content creation as features associated with first-class output types—such as condition tags—can now be used with PDF and XPS formats.

Additionally, technical authors can use “Page Setup” options for PDF and XPS formats to specify information such as paper size and orientation.

Usability and Ease-of-Use Enhancements

New usability features include:

• Dynamic Help Window Pane Lock lets the translator keep the current Help topic frozen in place while moving around in the MadCap Mimic interface, making it easier to follow steps or other information placed in the relevant Help topic.
• Minimize to System Tray provides an option to place a shortcut button in the system tray (e.g., notification area) of the task bar when MadCap Mimic is minimized.
• Reorganized Frame Editor facilitates the creation and editing of images.
• Expanded Object Support includes the ability to rotate shapes, as well as add loop and arrow shapes to frames.

Other key features:

Like its other documentation and authoring solutions, Mimic offers:

Unicode support for all left-to-right languages; access to these XML files is useful for translating movies into a range of Western and Asian languages.

Mimic is fully integrated with MadCap Flare for multi-channel single-source publishing and with MadCap Lingo, for translation of multi-media elements.

Pricing

MadCap Mimic 4.0 is $299 per single-user license.

Summary

The more I use MadCap, the more I’m impressed with the quality of their products. While it will take time to dislodge Adobe FrameMaker, especially legacy users, publishing managers and those responsible for running Technical Writing depts should download a trail copy of this.

What I like about their products is how well they are inter-connected.

Price-wise, it’s also great value.

If you want a trial copy or are having difficulty getting from their site, let me know and I’ll arrange it.

Likewise, if you have used it, please drop us a line.

What do you think of MadCap so far?

Posted from ivanwalsh’s posterous

In this week’s process modeling tutorial, I’m going to look at what do I need to capture in my business process. Some of you have written in asking for more background on what you need to capture in your process maps. Needless to say, it depends on the complexity of the project, but, at a minimum, you’re looking to capture the following.

Business Process Design Template

So, let’s start at the top.

• You need to capture some of the following when developing your processes:
• Time to perform each task
• Time an individual or a resource is available to perform a task
• Cost of the individual/resource
• Probability of occurrence of certain events
• Frequency at which new incidents in the business process are initiated

This is just a starter of what you need to cover. If you need to know more please drop me a line of look under the Process Design section of the site.

FYI: Business Process Design Templates

You can download the completed version of these business process templates over here: http://www.klariti.com/business-process-design-template/.

As I mentioned above, we’ve partnered with Klariti Ltd (www.klariti.com) and released some very detailed Microsoft Word and Visio templates. These are on sale for only $9.99 until month end – it’s the promotional price – and after that they go back up to $29.99. They include process narratives (Word) process maps (Visio) and Excel spreadsheets for controlling your projects.

PS – If you’ve found this article useful, please consider giving us a Digg or StumbleUpon.

Regards,

Ivan

Twitter / Facebook / Flickr / Templates / Tips

In this week’s process modeling tutorial, I’m going to look at what do I need to capture in my business process. Some of you have written in asking for more background on what you need to capture in your process maps. Needless to say, it depends on the complexity of the project, but, at a minimum, you’re looking to capture the following.

Business Process Design Template

So, let’s start at the top.

• You need to capture some of the following when developing your processes:
• Time to perform each task
• Time an individual or a resource is available to perform a task
• Cost of the individual/resource
• Probability of occurrence of certain events
• Frequency at which new incidents in the business process are initiated

This is just a starter of what you need to cover. If you need to know more please drop me a line of look under the Process Design section of the site.

FYI: Business Process Design Templates

You can download the completed version of these business process templates over here: http://www.klariti.com/business-process-design-template/.

As I mentioned above, we’ve partnered with Klariti Ltd (www.klariti.com) and released some very detailed Microsoft Word and Visio templates. These are on sale for only $9.99 until month end – it’s the promotional price – and after that they go back up to $29.99. They include process narratives (Word) process maps (Visio) and Excel spreadsheets for controlling your projects.

PS – If you’ve found this article useful, please consider giving us a Digg or StumbleUpon.

Regards,

Ivan

Twitter / Facebook / Flickr / Templates / Tips

Wired.com Tracking Every Facet of Life, from Sleep to Mood to Pain #2

Originally uploaded by Tech Writer Boy

Gary Wolf writes in Wired.com that, “two years ago, my fellow Wired writer Kevin Kelly and I noticed that many of our acquaintances were beginning to do this terrible thing to themselves, finding clever ways to extract streams of numbers from ordinary human activities. A new culture of personal data was taking shape.”

The immediate cause of this trend was obvious: New tools had made self-tracking easier.

He adds that much of the data-gathering can be automated, and the record-keeping and analysis can be delegated to a host of simple Web apps.

With new tracking systems popping up almost daily, we decided to create a Web site to track them. Gary has dubbed this project the ‘Quantified Self’.

Read the rest of what Gary has to say. Some very interesting points.

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_knowthyself#

Clickbank have added four new Buy Buttons to help digital retailers who want to add a nice snazzy Buy Now button to their sales pages.

If you’ve found this article useful, please consider giving us a Digg or StumbleUpon.

Regards,

Ivan

Twitter: @ivanwalsh

www.Facebook.com /  Flickr.com/photos/ivanwalsh

Templates: http://www.klariti.com & Tips: http://www.ivanwalsh.com

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50 tips and tricks to get the most from Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft. Here are tips 31-40.

30. Remove the Bing background image

To remove the background image in Bing’s search engine, enter the following url:

http://www.bing.com/?rb=0

This displays the homepage without the background image, making the download faster.
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31. Search sites with filetype
To search for websites that contain links to Microsoft Windows Media Audio (.wma) files, type music contains:wma.

32. Search for files with a particular filetype.
To find document created in PDF format, type the name of the document, eg report, followed by filetype:pdf.

33. Snow reports
Type ‘snow report’ followed by a city. For example, type snow report Cairo.

34. Stock Quotes
In the search box, type the ticker symbol followed by stock or quote. For example to find the financial quotes of Microsoft, type MSFT stock or MSFT.

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35. Statistical Information
In the Bing.com search box, type what you want to find. For example, population of England, or iphones in USA.

36. Track Flight Status

To see the status of your flight:

flight status for United – enter the flight number and press Get Status .

flight status - Bing prompts you to enter the flight name and number on the first result itself.

Enter the flight name and number and click Get Status.

37. MP3 Music Files

Type U2 contains:mp3 will show pages that are about U2 and link to MP3 files.

38. Web pages for a specific language

To find results in a particular language, select the language code after the language: keyword.

For example, if you are searching for laptops then type laptops language:en.

39. Web pages from a specific country
Enter the country or region code directly after the loc: keyword. Use a logical OR to include one more language.

For example, to see web pages about wine from the France or Italy, type wine (loc:FR OR loc:IT).

Image results are shown at the bottom of the page.

40. Used Cars
VIN provides protection against buying a used car with hidden problems.
Type the VIN number and hit Search.

Another part of the process design package is the flowchart diagrams. One area where I’m getting a little stuck is deciding how many swim lanes to add to the Visio diagrams. To get things rolling I have created three Visio diagrams with 2, 3 and 4 swim lanes. Take a look here.

The question is: which one will be business analysts use the most?

Regards,

Ivan

Twitter @ivanwalsh

Here are 6 Downloads for Office Development with Visual Studio. This is from the MSDN Office Development with Visual Studio Developer Center.

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1. AddinSpy and AS Diagnostic Tools for Microsoft Office Add-ins AddInSpy is a diagnostic tool which discovers all registered Microsoft Office add-ins on a computer, and reports the maximum possible information about these add-ins. The tool works with all versions of all Microsoft Office applications that support COM

2. OBA Sample Application Kits Release to Web!

If you’re looking for guidance on how to integrate SAP and/or PeopleSoft into your Office applications, then the OBA Sample Application Kits are a great place to start.

3. Business Applications Sample Application Kit for SAP 2.0

The OBA Sample Application Kit for SAP is a version 2.0 of a kit designed to help developers integrate SAP with the 2007 Office system, specifically Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, and MOSS 2007.

4. Visual Studio Tools for the Office System Power Tools Released!

This release contains a set of developer tools that provide additional functionality useful in Office-based development. These tools include Visual Studio add-ins as well as standalone Windows Forms and console applications.

5. Sample: 2007 Office System Business Application: Sales Proposal Document Management The sample files in this download will help you learn how to use the Microsoft Office platform and Visual Studio to create a custom solution that allows multiple users to collaborate on the creation of a sales proposal response document.

Microsoft has released Bing’s API.   The announcement was made in Project Silk Road, which is a range of tools and services Microsoft offers online publishers and developers to help them generate traffic, increase engagement on their sites, drive insight, and boost productivity. Microsoft feel that in much the same way that the original Silk Road offered opportunities for overland cultural and technological exchange and innovation, it hopes that the offerings in Project Silk Road can help spark a modern-day network effect in online commerce and information exchange. Offerings that are part of Project Silk Road include: 

• Bing API
• Virtual Earth APIs
• adCenter Publisher
• Webmaster Center
• Custom Web Error Toolkit
• Excel Add-in for adCenter.

Instant Answers and Video Syndication services are also available, but are invitation-only at this time. Bing API 2.0 A key part of Project Silk Road is a re-architected Bing API that offers flexible options for building websites and applications. Developing an application with the new API is straightforward: 1. Choose a SourceType  2. Choose an output protocol (JSON, SOAP, or XML) 3. Customize according to your needs. All you need to get going is an AppID, which you can get on the site. New improvements to the Bing API include:

• Multiple protocols: JSON, XML, SOAP
• Multiple SourceTypes including Web, Images, InstantAnswer, Phonebook, RelatedSearch, and Spell
• Unlimited use for customer-facing sites and applications
• Flexible presentation options
• No restrictions on ordering and blending results

Detals are here: http://www.bing.com/developers/

Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s news. Next week, I’ll add more info on upcoming XML authoring software releases and the new Google Wave platform.
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Adobe launches Flash Catalyst tool for rapid UI design

Adobe launched the beta release of Flash Catalyst, a new authoring tool that aims to accelerate the development of rich user interfaces with Flash. The authoring tool is a response to growing demand for more polished enterprise applications. It is intended to complement Adobe’s Flex development tool, which the company has rebranded as Flash Builder.

http://arstechnica.com

Google Docs now supports MS Office 2007 file formats

Google added support for Microsoft’s Word and Excel 2007 default file formats to its online Docs office suite. Support for PowerPoint 2007’s file format remains out in the cold. The firm has added .docx and .xlsx to the list of file formats Google Docs accepts for uploading documents.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/

How to Write Release Notes?
Our partners site, Klariti.com, released a series of articles on how to write release notes. “Release Notes cover what’s new, download and installation instructions, known issues and frequently asked questions. Creating Release Notes is fairly straightforward. Create a Release Notes template and re-use it on each release.”

http://www.klariti.com/release-notes-templates/how-to-create-release-notes.shtml

Jing Pro Released to mixed reviews
Techsmith, the makers of Snagit and Camtasia, two of my favorite technical writing tools, released a premium version of Jing, it’s online screen capture software. Feedback was mixed from the tech writing community.

Official Jing blog here: http://blog.jingproject.com and our review over
http://www.ivanwalsh.com/2009/06/review-jing-pro-–-record-hd-quality-videos-for-youtube/

5 Things I Want to Know about Project Natal

Microsoft released Project Natal, a motion sensing device that allows you to control video games and Xbox 360 menus with your body instead of a peripheral controller. Natal gives you voice and full-body motion control over your on-screen avatar using an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone, and custom processor running proprietary software. Microsoft released the Project Natal software development kit to game makers who want to incorporate Natal functionality into their products.

http://www.pcworld.com

Hulu Desktop for Mac, PC

Hulu Labs lets you play with new products and services as they are almost ready for prime time. Among the new toys of everyone’s favorite piracy-busting online video service is Hulu Desktop, a bona fide client for the service running on both Mac OS X and Windows computers. Hulu Desktop delivers Hulu straight to your desktop with no browser required (though you will need Flash installed). Hulu Desktop is wrapped with a media-center-like bow, with a customized “lean-back” UI that can run full screen and even respond to Apple Remotes and Windows Media Center remotes.

Microsoft select St. Paul for Silverlight Offices

Gita Sitaramiah reports that Microsoft has leased space at Wells Fargo Place in St. Paul, for a software development office. The tech giant had also considered locating in Minneapolis, where it currently is operating in temporary quarters. Initially, Microsoft is leasing around 12,000 square feet of space on the 24th floor of the Wells Fargo tower, employing 26 people at the start. The St. Paul office is a key part of Microsoft’s intent to build around Silverlight, a Web browser application that competes with Adobe Flash.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_12511706?source=most_emailed

Review of Groundswell – Winning in a world transformed by social technologies

Groundswell was our book of the week and well worth a look if you want to get an insight into how social media works on a business level. In other words: how to make money from social media. Customers are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube.

They’re defining you on Wikipedia and ganging up on you in social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon — the groundswell — that has created a permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works. Most companies see it as a threat. You can see it as an opportunity.”

http://www.ivanwalsh.com/2009/06/review-of-groundswell-winning-in-a-world-transformed-by-social-technologies/

Why Google Squared Makes Bing Look Good

Google Squared is a specialized search engine that creates meaningful data from large data sources and lets you compare this information by adding different attributes. Think Excel+Wikipedia+Search Engine = Google Squared. This is not Google’s finest hour by any means. Take a look at some of the results it produced.

http://www.ivanwalsh.com/2009/06/google-squared-confirm-that-richard-nixon-was-a-quaker-obama-is-a-zombie-president/

Linux/Java-based Android platform to the MIPS architecture

Technical writers with an interest in Android and open source may be interested in this. Embedded Alley completed its port of the Linux/Java-based Android platform to the MIPS architecture. The Embedded Alley Development System for Android-based Devices initially targets devices ranging from set-top boxes (STBs) to industrial equipment running the MIPS-based RMI Au1250 processor. The Embedded Alley Development System for Android-based Devices is available now. http://www.linuxdevices.com

DITA webinar
FierceContentManagement are putting on a webinar on Thursday June 11th at 2:00 pm ET called Using DITA to Streamline Your Workflow. The webinar is sponsored by Just Systems and features Gilbane Group analysts and DITA experts, Bill Trippe and Dale Waldt.

http://www.fiercecontentmanagement.com

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UK-based Intelligent Editing Ltd has developed PerfectIt, a Microsoft Word add-in that helps professionals writers edit and refine their documents.

You can access PerfectIt in the same way you run PDF conversion tools or Snagit’s screen capture in Microsoft Word.

PerfectIt is targeted at technical writers, editors, and other business users who:

• Write collaborative documents
• Edit complex technical, legal or medical documents

How it works

It works by highlighted each location in the document that could be an error and allows you to inspect them before making changes.

There are 6 main areas it focuses on:

1. Abbreviations

PerfectIt checks that abbreviations are:

• Presented consistently
• Defined in their first usage
• Defined only once
• Used after they are defined

It then generates a table of abbreviations automatically from your document.

2. Capitalization

It searches text for irregular capitalization and flags:

• Inconsistently capitalized words and phrases
• Capitalization of bullets and lists
• Heading capitalization
• Capitals used in tables

Tip: you can also set it to check your house style.

3. Hyphens and dashes

Ok, we all know that while style guides differ on the correct use of hyphens, hyphenation within a document must be consistent.

PerfectIt checks hyphenation by searching for:

• Words used with and without a hyphen
• Phrases used with and without hyphenation
• Consistent hyphenation of compounds, numbers, fractions and directions

As there are instances when it is correct for words to appear both with and without hyphenation, PerfectIt lets you review each location and decide on a case-by-case basis.

4. Punctuation

PerfectIt runs checks for:

• Punctuation in lists
• Punctuation in bullets
• Punctuation in tables

5. Spelling and typing mistakes

This add-in for Microsoft Word looks for typos, such as:

• Common typing mistakes
• Individual words spelled in more than one way
• Numbers in text

6. Table / figure numbering

PerfectIt automatically detects table and figure numbering in order to look for:

• Tables and figures in the wrong order
• Missing table / figure headings
• Consistent labelling of tables and figures

It highlights possible errors and lets you decide whether these should be corrected or ignored.

What happened when we tested PerfectIt

As mentioned above, PerfectIt runs tests to check the accuracy of your document. While Microsoft Word has similar features, PerfectIt goes one better and checks the integrity of your material at a deeper level.

You get the feeling that this was designed by people who read and write for a living and know what professionals writers want when testing their documents.

To run the application, install it as an Add-Ins in Word. The Add-Ins option in Word 2007 is towards the right of the main menu.

Save the document you’re working on before you start. This makes things simpler to undo if you want to roll-back you changes.

If you want to experiment, give it a test name, eg userguide-perfectit1.0, and then start with the testing.

In the Settings pane, click the options to save the document before starting and for Balloon Help tips as you correct. These are best to get you going but once you have the hang of how it works, you won’t need these and you can plough ahead.

1. Click Start.

PerfectIt starts to check the document and work its way through the text. As it finds an error, it will make a recommendation and suggest the types of changes you can make.

2. PerfectIt displays a progress bar which shows you what it’s found in your documents.

Each time it finds an error, you can click Fix (to fix it, or course) or Next to move to the next error is has encountered.

What I liked was that you can click Fix to fix errors as it works its way through the document or, if you’re satisfied with the test, click Fix All and it will update the entire document.

Proofreading software for technical writers

3. At first, I used Fix but once I understood how it worked, it started to use Fix All.

4. Be careful, though! No application is fool-proof.

Check each mistake it finds, especially when checking someone else’s documents or material you are not familiar with.

5. Once the test is complete, PerfectIt runs several tasks, such as:

• Generate Table of Abbreviations
• Accept all tracked changes
• Remove all comment boxes
• Update the table of contents
• Update cross-references

How to customize PerfectIt

So far it’s just like Word? Well, to a degree Yes, but it goes one better by letting you configure the settings so you can focus on specific areas.

What do you mean, Ivan?

Give me an example!

Ok. Say you are doing a test on hyphens and dashes in the document. You know words like ‘y’know’, ‘you’re’, ‘x-box’. Maybe you want the dashes – maybe you don’t. The point is that they are not errors.

And this is where PerfectIt adds some real value.

6. In this example, I have told it to ignore the phrase ‘can’t’.

You can configure PerfectIt so that it finds other such examples and them adds them to its dictionary.

Once you’re finished, click Save and Exit and you can check your revised document. At first, you might want to test the app by using dummy text or sample documents for experimentation purposes.

Once you understand the nuances of how it works, then go ahead and start to use it on your business reports or technical documentation.

Strengths

It’s a light-weight tool so there are no performance issues – something to consider if you run multiple apps at the same time.

My favorite feature?

The option to update cross-references makes it worth the entrance fee alone. Instead of having to check these, it does it dynamically and it does it correctly. I’ve had some negative experiences with other grammar-checking software, so my expectations were fairly low. As it turns out, it did a great job.

This one small feature saved me hours at the weekend.

Weaknesses

The weak link in the chain is probably me.

Because this is an add-in, it doesn’t appear on the menu by default (at least for me in Word 2007). This means make the effort to find it and then check the text. Sometimes I forgot it was there. Mea cupla!

I do the same thing with SnagIt. I forget it’s already in Word and ‘go out’ to the Programs menu to find it. So, there is no real criticism to make.

Use it and your documents will improve. Simple, really!

Verdict

This is the first release of the product, so it’s a bit light on features. But what it does, it does very well. My hope is that it will grow into a more substantial product.

One thought would be a web version of the app, which would stop me before I mistype words into my blogs. Native grammar checkers on most blogs are fairly limited.

Many of the features, or flavors of such features, are in Word. But, it’s a more intelligent application and understands what you, as a writer, are trying to do.

You can wrestle with Word if you want and it will do a fine job – but, this gives that little bit more.

For such a competitively-priced product, this is a real lifesaver if you write words for a living.

Download it now and take the 30 day trial version for a run.

The entrance of Bing to the search engine market has triggered the predictable Google Killer articles, denouncements of all things Microsoft, and a few insights into what it actually does. This is the first in a series of articles on Bing, where we’ll try to sift the wheat from the chaff, so you can get an idea of where Bing stands in the overall scheme of things.

Let’s get started and see what Wired, CNET, PC Magazine has to say about it.

We’ll also look at what Seth Godin sees at the real problem with Bing and go through an interview with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, who talks about where Bing came from (and where they got the dorky name – even he doesn’t know!) and how Bing differs from Google.

Even though Bing hasn’t been released yet, everyone has an opinion. Here’s what you need to know now.

1. Bing goes live on June 3.

2. Bing stands for But It’s Not Google. This is a joke. Don’t sue me.

3. Bing’s search strategy focuses on 4 categories: shopping, travel, health and local businesses.

4. Bing is designed to keep you on its site; Google sends you off to other sites.

5. $100 million allocated to marketing. Mix of online and offline advertising. Expect to see ads in your national newspaper, TV and even on the side of a truck.

What people are saying about Bing

Wired.com on Bing

 “Bing does much more than search for relevant links. It retrieves and processes data, and renders it smartly.

That makes finding a great restaurant or an airline ticket, a snap. But the service is far from perfect.

Beautiful data mash-ups coexist side-by-side with perplexing interface choices that make it hard to find the best features.

Meanwhile, actual search results were inaccurate in some cases, and disappointing overall in the local search category, one of the areas Microsoft hopes to make its biggest splash.”

Not the greatest start. Here’s CNET.

CNET

To be honest, I was stunned by CNET’s verdict. CNET’s pearls of wisdom includes this extract:

“Google keeps improving in the area of in-search collation and display as well, but Bing makes Google look complacent, and that’s not good for Google. For the moment, Bing’s on top in this game.”

Remember, Bing isn’t live yet!

CNET think it makes Google look complacent and Bing’s on top in this game.

The fact the Google is about to launch WAVE is overlooked.

The fact the Bing hasn’t made a dime yet is also overlooked. So much for CNET.

Seattle Times

Microsoft is based in Seattle, so you can read what you want into this piece.

“Video searches are especially cool on Bing. It returns thumbnail images, just like other search engines. But when you hover over the images, the video starts playing right there, without clicking through.”

A nice feature, I have to admit.

But how’s the copyright issue resolved with content publishers?

Does it include video from rivals like Yahoo and/or Google?

It goes on:  “Travel shopping is another highlight. (read that again -  travel shopping is a highlight in 2009!)

Other Bing standouts include listings of topics, such as local restaurants, which are displayed with maps and ratings. Buttons on the side can be clicked to tailor the search and set price ranges, again adding the sort of controls common on specialized Web sites.”

PC Magazine

I’m not a fan of this magazine but its judgment seems fairly balanced.

It leads by identifying some of the problems Bing tires to resolve and how successful it is in doing this.

“Much of the time users are not really looking for a Web page but for an answer. By providing results that answer users’ questions immediately rather than requiring them to navigate to another page and back if the first one didn’t yield the info they were looking for, Bing brings value and efficiency to Web searches.”

PC Magazine add, “I didn’t run into any cases where Google’s results were more relevant than Bing’s, whether I was looking for a specific site or for general information on a topic.”

While conceding that it’s unlikely that Bing will unseat Google, but it’s a good thing for everyone to have more appealing choices, and some competition, when it comes to Web searching.”

Agreed. Maybe I’ll start reading PC Mag again.

Search Engine Land

SEL puts it case like this: “Bing has to be at least 50 percent better” than Google to start peeling away users loyal to Google. Bing isn’t 50 percent better than Google. However, Bing does offer results that are, across the searches I conducted, highly competitive with Google and in some cases it offers features that are more user-friendly.

Given the strength of Google’s brand and its “ownership” of search Bing may struggle to make market share gains.

But SEL is optimistic and predicts it will ’gain share’.

Those potential gains may come not at Google’s expense but rather from Ask, AOL or even Yahoo.”

It’s true. Maybe against Yahoo which is struggling for direction. Against Google, hardly.

But Steve Wozniak was impressed.

Bing gets an unexpected endorsement from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was impressed.

“That was the most astounding software demo I’ve ever seen,” Wozniak told Tech Ticker after seeing Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Bing at the All Things Digital Conference.

What’s the real problem with Bing?

Seth Godin is always worth reading.

He cuts to the chase and addresses the real problem

“as far as I can tell, (Bing) is trying to be the next Google.

The challenge for Microsoft is that there already is a next Google.

It’s called Google.”

He adds that in times of change, the rule is this:

Don’t try to be the ‘next’.

Instead, try to be the other, the changer, the new.

Even if Microsoft adds a few features and they prove popular, how long precisely will it take Google to improve on these features?

Google saw what Twitter is achieving. The response – Google Wave. Due out in a few months. This will be Twitter on steroids.

Seth hits the nail on the head: The internet works best when you build a network, not when you buy a brand. In fact, I can’t think of one successful online brand that was built with cash.”

Can you?

What makes Bing different from other search engines?

Shar VanBoskirk on Forrester sees it a little different. She highlights three areas where Bing is different than Google.

1. Bing delivers answers, not Web pages. 

Microsoft research shows (Forrester’s research affirms it) that users increasingly rely on search engines to make decision. Hotel reservations, movie listings, gift ideas etc.

Today it’s not enough to have a directory of Web sites. Bing wants to help you make decisions; it’s more than a database–driven web catalog.

2. Bing organizes content/results by searcher (not algorithm) relevance. 

Based on its research into which result types have proven most relevant to former searchers, Bing’s interface delivers content users are most likely to value – rather than content that matches an algorithmic formula. How accurate the results Bing delivers will be seen only when it goes live.

3. Bing filters out irrelevant results.

Bing doesn’t give you pages of search results. The focus is on relevance. Nothing wrong with that.

My concern is that the results will favor, or be skewered towards, Microsoft’s business partners rather than the most appropriate site. If this is the case, the validity of the results are called into question.

And it that is the case, will users really switch over from Google?

Unlikely.

Otherwise what’s in it for companies who have signed up to be partners?

What Steve Ballmer thinks of Bing and where the name came from?

This leads us to an interview with Steve Ballmer. All Things Digital interviewed Steve Ballmer this week and asked him about Bing, the future of Microsoft as an applications developer, and where he sees Microsoft in the search industry.

Here are the key points.

Referring to poll data, Walt on All Things Digital noted Microsoft’s paltry share of the search market.

“There’s a lot of distance between you and Google,” he says. “Is search the most important thing to you as CEO or are you more concerned with Windows, etc.?”

Ballmer: “Look, we’re obviously where we are in search and we want to do better. We’re hoping to be one of the companies that moves the industry forward. The PC business continues to be big, we’re going through an economic reset, but there’s still vibrance there.”

Why did Microsoft choose the name Bing?

When asked why Microsoft chose the name Bing, Steve Ballmer answered. “We needed a name that says this is all about search. I’m not the creative guy, people like to ‘verb up’…works globally, doesn’t have negative connotations. This is a very important step…it’s not a substitute for innovation, but we need to build brand equity in addition to technology equity.”

Hmmm…. Know you know. Clear as mud, huh!

Bing – How it works

Now, let’s look at how Bing actually works

User Interface

Bing is designed with a box and button format. It has a screensaver type  background. More cluttered than Google, sharper than MSN and Yahoo. Links to some Microsoft web services.

Search

Best Match denotes an official or definitive site, i.e. the site with the most authority. How Microsoft decides who is the authority is another matter and has not been clarified at the time of writing.

Instant Answer

This answers questions that rely on facts. such as: who won the last Oscar?
It returns a result for who won an Academy Award.

• A search for UPS returns a customer service number at the top of the page.
• A search for Microsoft customer service number produced no result.

Data Mining

Bing includes software Microsoft acquired when it purchased Powerset, which lets it “understand” pages and perform data-mining activities.

Video

Video searches generate a page with a row of thumbnails. Click on these and they will play automatically in the search pane.

Weather

Bing gives a 5-day forecast. Google offers 1 day.

City Search

Want to search for a city? Bing will give you info on the weather, events, sports games, and video mentions of the area.

Shopping

If you search for a digital camera, Bing will open a search shopping page displaying:

• Price comparisons
• User reviews
• Cashback rewards you if you’ve made purchases through the site

Flight Search

The flight search feature, Farecast, searches multiple airlines by price, hops, etc.

It offers real-time flight data and shows prices, rates, and cash back incentives. It also tracks flight pricing trends and can predict (i.e. forecast) if your fare is likely to go up or down.

Full interview at All Things Digital

The last word goes to Mr. Ballmer when asked about Ask’s redesign and subsequent fall.

Could the same thing happen to Bing?

“No,” says Ballmer.

“Bing is too tremendous a stride. It differentiates itself from Google. It might not appeal to everyone, but if it appeals to 20 percent of them, that’s a success. Ask wasn’t able to do that.”

So, what’s your thoughts on Bing?

Drop me a line or have your say in the comments box below.

Microsoft still has a lot to learn about search engines. While Bing is very impressive, other parts of the Microsoft websphere aren’t so lucky.

Here is the search engine on the MSDN site.

Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanwalsh/3580555906/

Do you see it?

No?

There is no search engine – at least not at first glance – until you click the Search link.

Then, and only then, can you search the Microsoft blogs.

Why has Microsoft designed the site like this?

I don’t know.

I think it’s because they are a software development company and still think like developers – they haven’t made the switch to search. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong.

But I do know they need to re-define their search engine strategy or risk losing more market share.

Will Bing answer this?

We’re going to look at Bing later this week so stay tuned.

For a taster of what you get on Bing, look at the video. Go on, it’s free, and Bing is better than you think.

Find out more about Bing at: http://www.decisionengine.com/Default.html

rgs

Ivan

www.ivanwalsh.com