After launching a beta version of IE9, touting Bing’s new beauty thanks to IE9 and announcing a higher dividend for shareholders, Microsoft is again giving back to its supporters with Bing Rewards.
According to searchengineland.com, Microsoft is rolling out Bing Rewards, right now in preview form only.
On the Bing Rewards site, users can sign up to become a member of the preview program, “and experience the benefits of doing what you love to do online — learning, discovering, exploring — while getting opportunities to earn credits towards great rewards.”
The program works by having users in stall the Bing Bar (which counts your credits), Register for a Windows Live ID, and then one can begin earning credits for to redeem for rewards.
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Microsoft deftly added some caveats to the program. To participate one’s computer must have:
- Use Internet Explorer 7.0 or later
- Run Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2)
- At least 512 MB RAM (memory)
- 500 MHz processor or higher
- 50 MB of available hard-disk space
The above requirements mean no use on a Mac, and no use on another browser. Well played Microsoft.
How do you acquire credits to use redeem? Upon registering, one receives 250 credits just for signing up. Other credits can be acquired, according to the site’s “Frequently Asked Questions” section as follows:
“You can take advantage of offers to earn credits. Offers may include earning credits for conducting searches on Bing, setting your browser search defaults to Bing, or trying out new Bing features.”
Searchengineland.com reports they were told by a Microsoft rep, “Until October 2, you can earn one credit for every five Bing searches, and up to eight credits per day.”
I rarely use Bing, opting to more often use Google out of habit more so than for any other reason. That said, Bing Rewards is a neat feature for those that use Bing, and may entice those who do not to give the “discovery engine” a try. Unfortunately Microsoft has left yours truly out of the mix as I use a MacBook Pro for my writing and Safari, or Firefox for my browsing.
To the rest of you who can enroll in the program, will you sign up for Bing Rewards? If you currently do not use Bing, will Bing Rewards draw you to the service?
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