Bing is live. I already know I’ll be sticking with Google.

[Visit here. You can also try Bing out for your own country TLD (.co.uk, .fr, .jp etc..). ]

After admittedly only trying the new Microsoft search engine for 20 minutes, there really is no question in my mind that whilst Bing may have it’s 15 minutes of fame, the majority of users will unquestionably remain with Google – as will I.

There are some neat little touches, such as the video playback, and results do show rather fast, but the fact is there really isn’t enough distinguishing the two services. Results, so far, are not unlike some of the results I’ve seen in better new search engines (like DuckDuckGo) – rather good, but still not good enough to break the habits of my nimble fingers or stubborn mind.

A friend asked if I could give him a few tips to promote his movie online this morning. I decided to Google it and Bing it to compare results, Bing and Google. The results really do speak for themselves, as they should.

However, irrespective of features, habits and results, there is one major obstacle which, for now at least, will keep Microsoft at bay…

Family

Google have cleverly built a family of services, the majority of which put to shame anything that Microsoft has released online. The user retention levels (thanks to products like GMail, Docs, Gtalk, iGoogle, YouTube, Calendar) make Google a place where I spend 80% of my online time. One way or another, I’ll end up back on Google Search until I know for a fact – that another search engine is offering results I can’t find as easily on Google.

Seth Godin put it best recently when he said

“Microsoft really shouldn’t focus on being the ‘next’ Google but instead “try to be the other, the changer, the new. If Microsoft adds a few features and they prove popular, how long precisely will it take Google to mirror or even leapfrog those features?”

Microsoft will now reportedly launch a $100 million ad campaign to drive interest in the new search engine and if they’re lucky, a few “non geeks” will try it out for a minute or two, think “what a nice picture” when they type in their first search, might find what they’re looking for but realise they could have done the exact same thing with Google. With a $100 million, you could build something big, something special, something different, something potentially revolutionary…instead Microsoft are telling us to try something new with no difference in outcome.