Bing Search Tainted by Pro-Microsoft Results

[SecularMotion]

Source: CIO

Just as Bing is gaining popularity, some disturbingly pro-Microsoft and anti-Apple search results rear their ugly heads.


Oh Microsoft, just when we were starting to believe in this thing called Bing, you go messing with the search results.

Case in point: a search on Bing for the phrase, "Why is Windows so expensive?" returned this as the top link....

"Why are Macs so expensive."

That's right. You're not hallucinating. That was the top response on Bing to a question about the price of Windows.

Read more: http://advice.cio.com/shane_oneill/bing_search_tainted_by_pro_microsoft_results

[Forkboy]

1. I'm shocked by this development.

Shocked I say!

[grantcart]

2. I'm shocked, shocked that his could happen.

[glinda]

20. I'm not. I figured this was what it was for. Propaganda and sales.

[ejpoeta]

3. wow!! a ruthless monopolistic company would taint search results.

how unexpected. i have refused from the beginning to support this endeavor by microsoft. i may have windows on my computer, but i am not going to help them try to further monopolize by using their search engine. and now that i hear about this, you can count on it that I won't use it!!

[WriteDown]

5. See post 4. nt

[hugo_from_TN]

9. I've started using Bing more

It's got some nice features that Google doesn't have. In terms of search, Google has a huge monopoly, so competition from any side will be beneficial.

[WriteDown]

4. I wonder about this....

This is what I got.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=why+are+macs+so+expensive&form=QBLH&qs=n

[kirby]

19. I think you misunderstood the article...

The query is 'Why is windows so expensive' and the first/second link returned is a why are macs so expensive.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=why+is+windows+so+expensive&form=QBLH&qs=n

[WriteDown]

21. The whole thing is odd....

Even google gives some odd results. Considering that Macs are hardware(for the most part_ and Windows is software, it makes it even odder.

[kirby]

22. Yep, who knows...

It could be sinister (only an investigation would know), a coincidence, or a result of a third-party using 'search engine optimization' (SEO) tactics to get that link elevated in the results.

[alfredo]

39. It seemed that I had to wade through a lot of garbage to find a real link

to a story.

[The Straight Story]

37. Not first or second, and a legit return anyways

All the keywords were on the yahoo page it returned.

[kirby]

38. It was second when I posted...

Obviously it has changed and/or been changed since my post or I wouldn't have said it.

[bullwinkle428]

6. Dammit!! I wanted to be first one to make the "Casablanca" reference!

:P

[daggahead]

7. Surprise! n/t

[A-Long-Little-Doggie]

8. Water is wet.

Details at 11. :P

[Seeking Serenity]

10. A search of the Bing was tainted?

I'm sure Silvio orchestrated that well.

[orwell]

11. How about...

...Bing just doesn't turn up good results. I tried it, and went back to the Goog!

[BattyDem]

12. I knew they'd find a way to screw it up.

I like Bing - it has a few features that Google doesn't have. I certainly wasn't ready to give up the Google, but I was giving it a chance. At the very least, I figured the competition would push Google to do some good things.

How can I trust Bing now? If Microsoft is pushing it's own company in the results, what's to stop them from pushing other companies they do business with? Yes, I know ... Google could do the same thing, but so far, there hasn't been any reports of them doing it. Instead, certain links are at the top of the search results page, but they are clearly labeled as "Sponsored Links" so I know they're being intentionally pushed.

Damn! :-(

[WriteDown]

13. Considering I can't get the link working...

Or duplicate the results. I'll take this whole thing with a mound of salt.

[BattyDem]

15. I tried it a few minutes ago

The Windows question does bring up Mac results. :-(

On edit: Just to be clear ... "expensive Mac" was not the top result ... it was second and the links under that discussed the price of Macs

[Rob Gregory Browne]

14. This is What I Got

Same exact search.

Results:

News about why is Windows so expensive?

*
Amazon: Mac OS X 10.6 sells faster than Windows 7
... running Mac OS X 10.4, known as Tiger, must instead purchase the more expensive ... of Leopard! :-) Leopard is/was a… PC Advisor 2 days ago
*
How much is that clunker in the window?
Los Angeles Times 2 days ago
*
Jonah Goldberg: How Much Is That Clunker in the Window?
Union 10 hours ago

[Rob Gregory Browne]

16. And if you change the search as follows:

Why is Vista so expensive?

You don't even see a mention of Apple or the Mac.

I really think this is fan boy much ado about nothing.

[SecularMotion]

18. From the article

"There is evidence that Microsoft is aware of the Bing results shenanigans and has made adjustments. An article written two weeks ago on an Internet marketing site called out Bing for censoring search results."

[Rob Gregory Browne]

24. Sorry, Don't Buy It

I don't doubt that Microsoft has its share of problems -- I'm on a Mac right now and no real fan -- but this all seems too petty to be believable. I can't believe I'm even wasting time on it.

[SecularMotion]

25. The fact that the search results have changed

since the time the allegations of tainted results first appeared would indicate Microsoft's guilt in skewing search results.

If Microsoft is tampering with search results to favor it's business interests, then they are capable of tampering with results to favor political views or other opinions. People who use the service should be made aware of this.

[Rob Gregory Browne]

27. I have no proof

that the search results have changed. Should I simply take a blogger's word for it? Should I trust that he doesn't have an agenda or believe that he couldn't have photoshopped the results?

I'm not saying that this happened. But the whole thing is just ridiculous.

Again, much ado about nothing. And here I sit, still wasting energy on it.

[merwin]

28. Or it would indicate a shift in the results due to what people click on after they search for it.

Search engines can be massaged to show certain results at the top. Google has had this problem forever... for example, searching for "Miserable Failure" used to bring up George Bush's website. Would you say Google put that there as an anti-Bush tactic?

[SecularMotion]

30. The "Miserable Failure" results were pushed to the top of the list

by users taking advantage of the Google search algorithm to change the results. It's called a "Google Bomb" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb. That's a big difference from Microsoft or Google tampering with the results.

[merwin]

32. That's what I'm trying to say. Most likely, it wasn't Microsoft manipulating anything.

Bing is a new search engine with a new search algorithm. There's going to be holes and ways to manipulate it, yet people automatically jump to the "Microsoft is manipulating the results!" bullshit. Why is it not Google's fault when something like this happens, but it's automatically Microsoft tampering with results when it happens to them?

[SecularMotion]

34. You really don't get this do you???

The search results appeared to favor Microsoft, the one who is providing the results. This would raise suspicions as to bias of the results. This is different from the Google bomb which had no favor to Google.

People automatically jump to the conclusion that Microsoft is manipulating the results because that is what the evidence indicates and the unethical behavior of the company in the past.

[merwin]

40. Knowing how easy it is to manipulate search engines,

I prefer to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one. Do you honestly think the google bomb is unique to only google?

Any search algorithm can be manipulated. Now here's a question for you. If it turns out that their algorithm did produce this based on manipulation of the search results by some random group of people (google bomb), would it be right for MS to take action to change the results of that search query? At that point, they would be doing what the article claims they are doing, except this time in favor of Apple.

Not everything is a conspiracy theory, and I would hope that MS employees have more to do then alter search results to favor the company in such a miniscule way... Or maybe it's Microsoft's plan for to change people's opinion of them by re-ordering search results so subtly that they move one result (that does include all of the search terms) to the top leaving several results that are anti-MS.

None of this matters to me, since I prefer to use Google.

This just reminds me so much of the racists manipulating Amazon "similar items" data (driven by user feedback) to give racist results when you looked at certain items. That got blamed on Amazon as well, with people such as yourself claiming that they were responsible for it. Oddly enough, I didn't see anybody apologizing when it turned out to be completely unrelated to them.

I expect the same result from this one. But by all means, continue to jump to conclusions without any evidence. That will really help.

[gtar100]

17. Your results don't necessarily lead to your conclusion.

Bing is using different algorithms and database stores to come up with the results than Google is. Rephrase the question - if you put quotes around your search, you'll get different results. If you don't, then each word is treated as equal (more or less) and not as a phrase. I think you would need to prove actual suppression of negative results about Microsoft to determine that their results are "tainted".

[ItNerd4life]

23. Try different variations, you will see the words aren't equal.

For example: Why are windows so expensive? The first result is about MACs yet later results have all the words in the search where the MAC results don't. Microsoft got caught!

[merwin]

29. Search engines don't generally make much distinction between "is" and "are".

Without any hints (quoting, + or -, etc, it's basically searching for "Why" "Windows" "Expensive" as a loosely joined phrase... meaning that it could exclude any of those words if the algorithm thinks that there's better/more popular results. You can manipulate search engines to return whatever results you want.

Like when searching for "Miserable Failure" on Google returned George Bush's website. Would you say that Google got caught manipulating search results there?

[formercia]

26. Well, duh...

And you expected any different?

[onehandle]

31. That was part of the marketing plan from the beginning. Just like Fox News for the GOP.

Propaganda for profit.

Who the heck wants to use the Chandler Muriel Bing search engine anyway?

I google things. Everybody googles things. It's in our language. Microsoft blew it.

[meegbear]

33. So why are Macs so expensive?

[Renew Deal]

35. Why is Windows so expensive? Because Apple doesn't play their workers overtime

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4003077&mesg_id=4003077

[CBGLuthier]

36. DU LBN Tainted by lame news source

Honestly, some one posts something on a blog and it's news?

[SoCalDem]

41. Not surprising at all.. Apple orchards sell apple juice..not grape juice

:)