Bing vs. Google. vs the Reality of History

If you are old enough, think back with me to the mid 80's.... try to remember products that owned 80% plus market share in their sector of the technology world... before names like Excel, Word, Oracle, and Powerpoint became the defacto standards in the corporate office.  Remember names like:

Ashton-Tate DBase, the first mass appeal relational database

- WordPerfect - the "do it all" writing tool that killed the dedicated word processor

- Lotus 1-2-3-  the powerful relational spreadsheet that changed our view of numbers

- Harvard Graphics - the first giant for presentations, from overheads to slideshows

(And for 25 bonus points and a knowing wink, raise your hand if remember WordStar, CalcStar, and DataStar which were the proverbial "800 lb Gorillas" of the business pc world the mid 70's....)

Let's not limit ourselves to just talking about software... hardware and consumer products come to mind as well...

- Epson Printers - the best combination of printing speed and "near daisywheel" text

- Xerox copiers - the machine that made carbon paper disappear from the office

- Polaroid Land Camera - the camera gave pictures without a processing lab

- Commodore 64  - the computer for everyone who wanted something to use at home

All had "insurmountable" leads in market share at their height, with a loyal and faithful following of users, and a promising plan for new innovation that was to take them into the next decade and beyond.  What happened?  Where are these leaders now?

Try to find a single user of Harvard Graphics, the ultimate charting and graphics program in Corporate America for over a decade.... or try to buy a Polaroid Land Camera without going on eBay and searching in the "collectible antiques" section.  Let's not even go into the spiraling demise of Lotus 1-2-3, or WordPerfect.... Yes... both can still be found in use today, and new releases do come out now and then, but nothing captures their status today in the mainstream like the old expression "how the mighty have fallen"  ...

So with history showing us - as recent as it may be in the digital technology era - why do we think that Google is unbeatable in the Search Engine market?  Certainly Microsoft has the talent, resources, and marketing clout to become dominant in that space, as they have done in so many other segments such as office applications and check book programs.  Bing is a viable product now, and like the early Google franchises, will continue to develop and get better, deliver richer results, and will grow fatter with add-on usefulness...

In reality, Google was a late comer to the search engine market... several other large players were already in the space and doing well long before the phrase "Google it" became part of our everyday vocabulary.  Yahoo certainly comes to mind as a venerable early leader, but they didn't have the market cornered like the companies mentioned above did.   They competed on fairly open and fertile ground with early pioneers like Ask.com and Lycos.    

Google came out with a singular vision - to be the best and fastest search engine out there... and they did that well.  Their user interface was simple enough for a first time user to understand, and the data they brought back was relevant.  Soon everyone "googled".  Nobody "Asked" or "Yahoo'd " nearly as much from that point onward. We googled...

Now Bing comes along with a ton of marketing that pinpoints the one thing that was always a distraction in using any search engine before... random overlap, which often turned users into useless cyberspace nomads roaming all over the internet. 

Bing has applied a sense of logic in eliminating unrelated but similarly spelled factoids.  The aggressive Microsoft marketing machine delivers new trial users by the thousands, and better functionality will bring them back as repeat users.  But the story doesn't end there however... Bing will compete with Google, but will not replace Google in the search engine space.

Certainly Google has the marketing and development clout to regroup, and they still have a tremendous bevy of applets like GoogleSketch and GoogleEarth that will continue to bring users back again and again... but expect Microsoft to intertwine there expertise in application development and their huge library of software to augment Bing while developers decide what their market play is... but I'm thinking the Search Engine players of today will begin to look more like online app houses with some search capability, and the true innovation of search will come from smaller companies who plan to stay truer to the "search" component, and will focus on doing what made Google dominant today-  do it faster and better.  Site engines under consideration that fit that mold include two sites that I find myself using more and more every day....

As a new player, consider Nexplore (www.nexplore.com), with their universal thumbnail interface - showing video, web, and photo images of search result sites on a single viewing page for the user to consider before roaming off off into cyberspace...

Fore a more established player, Altavista (http://www.altavista.com/) has regained some of my former loyalty with their highly accurate search tools and simplified user interface.

Both are at the top of the game in terms of horsepower, and both have remained focused on the fastest experience of search, minimized result overlap, and a simplified user experience.  No fancy app for viewing 3D molecules, designing houses, or writing dissertations on Tolstoy... These are not "Swiss army knife" sites.. they are "steak knife" sites.... just pure engines that deliver great results, and are poised to either partner with another player to build mass, or use their inherent strengths to grow organically as the market matures to the next level. 

Google won't last forever in the uncontested drivers seat... Bing will eat away at their market share... but ten years from now, I'm thinking someone like NeXplore will rise to the top of mind when the subject of search engines is discussed... and yes, we will begin "nexploring" on a daily basis.

About Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG)

Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) is the global marketplace for expertise. Since 1998, its technology-enabled platform for collaboration and consultation has helped the world’s leading institutions find, engage, and manage experts across a broad range of industries and disciplines. For more information visit www.glgroup.com

About NeXplore Corporation

NeXplore Corporation (OTC: NXPC.PK) improves the online experience by providing Web tools and destinations that empower people to drive and define a World Wide Web perfectly suited for their unique needs, interests and online pursuits. For advertisers, NeXplore offers a full array of search, display and interactive advertising products to reach and engage targeted consumers. For more information about NeXplore, visit www.nexplorecorporation.com.