Luke Blevins is a developer interested in .NET, Azure, and Windows. He's also a contributor to the popular third-party file explorer Files. Over the last two years or so, the developer switched to Bing as his primary search engine. Blevins' recent Twitter thread discussing how the search engine has evolved over the years provides a unique perspective on Bing.
Blevins dipped his toe in the Bing waters before this recent experiment, but he never stuck around for long. That changed after Microsoft made significant improvements to Bing's results, design, and feature set. Mostly drawn in by improved searched results, the dev came to appreciate other elements of Bing, such as its rich UI.
2/ However, that wasn't at all what I experienced this time around. Search results are not only highly accurate but presented in a rich way. For the first time, what I had to get used to was Bing's already-familiar UI instead of a diminished search experience. pic.twitter.com/DpEZaDeDQi2/ However, that wasn't at all what I experienced this time around. Search results are not only highly accurate but presented in a rich way. For the first time, what I had to get used to was Bing's already-familiar UI instead of a diminished search experience. pic.twitter.com/DpEZaDeDQi— Luke Blevins (@luke_blevins1) February 7, 2022February 7, 2022
Bing also differentiates itself from Google by how it presents information to developers. Blevins points to an example from Arlo Godfrey, the person behind the UWP Community Discord server:
Developers, I cannot express how stupidly useful @Bing is. They have features that cater to developers and it'll make your life SO much easier
Need string split info? Okay, which language? Also, we have code snippets, descriptions, overloads, examples, etc pic.twitter.com/us1yMVWglGDevelopers, I cannot express how stupidly useful @Bing is. They have features that cater to developers and it'll make your life SO much easier
Need string split info? Okay, which language? Also, we have code snippets, descriptions, overloads, examples, etc pic.twitter.com/us1yMVWglG— Arlo (@Arlodottxt) September 23, 2019September 23, 2019
Near the end of his thread, Blevins points to the value of Microsoft Rewards. He purchased an Azure t-shirt and donated $105 to the Khan Academy through Give with Bing. The rest of his reward points were given to the American Cancer Society.
11/ Sidenote: I recently lost an older relative to cancer. She fought a tough fight, so in her honor I'm changing my nonprofit to the American Cancer Society. You can auto-donate in a way that reflects your life too if you don't want to save for a gift card, Minecraft points, etc11/ Sidenote: I recently lost an older relative to cancer. She fought a tough fight, so in her honor I'm changing my nonprofit to the American Cancer Society. You can auto-donate in a way that reflects your life too if you don't want to save for a gift card, Minecraft points, etc— Luke Blevins (@luke_blevins1) February 7, 2022February 7, 2022
Blevins isn't alone in crediting Microsoft Rewards. Windows Central Editor Richard Devine argued that "Microsoft Rewards is the best Xbox feature you might not be using" back in December 2020. If you know how to get the most out of the Microsoft Rewards program, you can get Xbox Game Pass for free every month.
I spoke with Blevins regarding Bing's future and what's holding the platform back. "I think at a broader level, Bing is held back by societal pressure to use Google. This may sound trivial, but 'googling' is a verb now," said the developer. "Not to mention, my university classmates ridicule me for using Bing. Ultimately, it will be a battle of cloud compute and AI which Microsoft is positioned to succeed at with Azure."
Blevins represents a specific use case, but it shows that, at least in the eyes of some, Bing has improved significantly and is a viable alternative to Google. Blevins notes that he's in the United States, which is an important factor in all of this. Like many of Microsoft's products and services, the Bing experience is limited outside of the U.S.
