In order to understand the future of the Bing search engine you first must understand where Microsoft is headed. Microsoft was founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for Altair 8800. The company rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows in the mid-1990s. Microsoft was fortunate to catch and contribute to a wave in computing that they rode from the mid 90s to today. For Microsoft to live into to decades to come, they will have to adapt to a changing digital era where “data” is redefining the way we do business in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.
Microsoft’s mission today is to “Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more“. It differs from the old Bill Gates era mission statement which was “A computer on every desk and in every home” which was clearer in intent and actually measurable; it was a mission statement that allowed Microsoft to more or less say “Mission accomplished.” You can read more about it here.
Satay Nadella believes computing is going to be everywhere. Its about empowerment in the mobility of experience. Microsoft is building both hardware and software to support the mobility of experience with the assumption that digital will be everywhere in our lives and online will become ubiquitous. Devices and sensors will follow you around and help improve productivity and use of time which will be highly empowering and transformative to our lives. Connecting people and applications to empower them to do more together is what Microsoft is all about. Conversations are becoming the new platform and driver of productivity which means empowerment and information when you need it and where you need it. It’s not about one single device or application but about the cumulative integration of all devices and applications and their ability to work together to empower people and organisations to do more with their time and achieve more with their time. Satay believes data and the use of data is going to characterize the era we are in: The “data culture” is what will transform business and the way we work. You must ask the right questions to the system.
- Microsoft’s current CEO is Satya Nadella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satya_Nadella (ex CEOs Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates).
- Satay’s first interview explains why he took on the role of CEO at Microsoft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8JwNZBJ_wI
- A recent Keynote at Dreamforce (Salesforce event): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BourVzXU5o goes into great details on Satay’s vision for Microsoft.
- Here is an interesting fireside chat with Satay Nadella and his views on the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow4pbXoCONw
- A recent April 2016 Keynote with NASA use of Hololense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZ4emzWmRI
- The 2016 Microsoft’s Build developer conference keynote from Satay Nadella is also inspiring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo-ygJTQRPw
- The smartphone as a computing device that connects to any screen or device and fundamentally changing what the form and function of a smartphone is.
- Connecting applications and data to drive productivity and use of time.
- Connecting productivity and connectivity tools is key and the driver behind Linkedin purchase by Satya Nadella (his first big acquisition for Microsoft).
- Windows 10 is a big deal. It is a platform that attempts to connect everything.
- Microsoft cloud business to reach 20 billion by 2018. Microsoft is the largest SAAS company says Satya Nadella.
- Satay is very bullish on machine learning to power time management (bring the most important things to you first. eg Focus in outlook App).
- Face recognition logs you into Windows on Windows10. Computers are getting smarter.
- Data is the new business currency: Power BI will help companies visualize data on the go in real time business. A data visualization platform.
- Mobility of experience is what windows 10 is addressing. Its about connecting a person to devices, sensors, screens…etc regardless of their mobility and maintaining the experience.
- Windows10 is one platform that allows you to reach everything: devices, xbox, hololense, applications, connectivity….etc.
- For the end-user: it is about the experience.
- Hololense will fundamentally change the input/output. Mixed reality or augmented reality mixes the real world with the digital world using holograms. DevKit available in 2016. 5 year journey to adoption. Gaming, architecture, industrial design will be big.
- What keeps Satya up at night: Culture. Culture drives everything at MS and Satya is 100% committed to curating culture and making sure everyone in the company can do their best work.
- Microsoft wants to be the platform that empowers very person and organization on this planet to achieve more.
- We are moving to a mobile first, cloud first world. MS wants to power this world both on a software and device standpoint but also collaborate and embower other organizations to power this world.
- Satya Nadella most excited about how technology will become so transformative in shaping the outcome of our lives.
- Azure is key to Microsoft’s future success. And it is very impressive.
- For Microsoft, usage is a big deal and a fundamental to their leading indicators of success (KPIs).
- Globally: 15B search queries performed by 621M people per month globally
- USA: 50% of people use Bing
- Europe: 138M people use Bing
- 270M devices running Windows10
- 25% of Bing queries in EU from Windows10
- 90% Edge users retain Bing as default
- 2.5B questions asked to Cortana
- Powers core MS products: Windows(10), XBOX, Office, Cortana, Skype…etc.
- Bing powers results for MSN, Apple Siri & Spotlight and Amazon Kindle.
- Bing uses data from Yelp, twitter, foursquare, TripAdvisor to enrich results.
- Bing helps power Uber maps, Android knowledge graphs and Cyanogen OS.
- Aol, Yahoo (>51% of ads), Gumtree, infospace, Savoo, Ecoasia.
- DuckDuckGo search engine accessible through Yahoo which is a Bing syndication partner.
Recent post: ‘We’re all in’: Microsoft is committed to taking on Google: http://uk.businessinsider.com/microsoft-doubles-commitment-to-bing-2015-11
What Happens if Apple Drops Google From Its Safari Browser? http://searchengineland.com/apple-google-deal-expires-will-win-safari-default-search-business-214277
Apple – Google Deal: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/02/10/apple-believed-to-rake-in-over-1-billion-yearly-from-google-search-referrals
Important quote: “Google is also largely reliant upon iOS for mobile revenue, earning 80 percent of its ad revenue from 2008 to 2011 from iOS devices.” http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/what-happens-if-apple-drops-google-from-its-browser/?_r=0
Bing Ads advantages over Adwords: http://aheadvertize.com/12-advantages-bing-ads-have-over-adwords/
There is a new Bing App for iPhone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8r8LdtJ8Y
Microsoft Introduces Advertisers To The Bing Network: http://searchengineland.com/242631-242631
The new deal returns ad sales and account management back to each company: Bing handles Bing customers, Yahoo handles Yahoo customers. Bing has since beefed up its search sales force to more than 400 representatives. “As a company, our unique ability to power the operating systems we use every day – from PCs, tablets and phones to consoles, cars and the Internet of Things – gives us the opportunity to put Bing truly everywhere,” says Stephen Sirich, GM of Bing Ads.
Bing launched new logo in Jan 2016 to reflect successful standalone business: http://searchengineland.com/bing-updates-its-logo-with-uppercase-b-new-teal-blue-color-240270
“We are the only search engine that is experiencing steady, consistent growth, and [we] have increased our share for 26 consecutive quarters. And we’re not slowing down,” – Rik van der Kooi.
Microsoft has a big focus on Quantum computing: http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/10/microsoft-researchs-biggest-area-of-investment-is-quantum-computing/
Skype translator breaks down language barriers: http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/08/microsofts-skype-translator-now-speaks-arabic/ . Watch demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rek3jjbYRLo
Cortana is Microsoft’s digital/virtual assistant: http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/28/cortana-on-windows-10-your-pc-gets-a-personal-assistant/
The Microsoft Build developer conference:
Summary: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/30/microsof-ceo-nadella-bots-new-apps/82431672/
CEO Keynote: https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/KEY01
Conference: https://build.microsoft.com/
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella kicked off the company’s Build developers conference with a vision of the future filled with chatbots, machine learning and artificial intelligence. “Bots are the new apps,” said Nadella during a nearly three-hour keynote here that sketched a vision for the way humans will interact with machines. “People-to-people conversations, people-to-digital assistants, people-to-bots and even digital assistants-to-bots. That’s the world you’re going to get to see in the years to come.” The conference also cast the spotlight on a number of Microsoft projects, including HoloLens (the $3,000 augmented reality device shipping now to developers), Cortana (which is being enhanced to interact with commercial bots) and the company’s Bot Framework (which renders chatbot creation easier for developers). Microsoft’s HoloLens, which is now shipping out to developers, also is expected to draw much attendee attention at Build as Microsoft looks to them to build new applications for the augmented reality headset. The device took center stage with a demo showcasing how Case Western University professors are teaching med students with the augmented reality device.
Windows 10: Microsoft is making Windows 10 available as a free upgrade for compatible devices that are running genuine Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1 Update. The free upgrade is a full version of Windows (not a trial or introductory version) and is available until July 29, 2016. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/upgrade-to-windows-10-faq
Microsoft cloud computing platform: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Azure
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/
https://www.youtube.com/user/mspowerbi
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