MS may be adding a live and anonymous chat feature to Bing

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Wild Hunter, May 20, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    Source.
     
  2. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    Re: Microsoft adding a live [anonymous] chat feature to Bing.com?

    And this is an advantage because .... ?


    Answers on a postcard please & send to: 'I don't know why this is a good thing' Street, Pointless Innovations Avenue, Irrelevancyville. ;)
     
  3. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    Re: Microsoft adding a live [anonymous] chat feature to Bing.com?

    Awesome or a marketing gimmick? They say that there's one born every minute. I'd put the birth frequency higher personally.
     
  4. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    Re: Microsoft adding a live [anonymous] chat feature to Bing.com?

    This could be an awesome advantage IMO.

    Users searching for the same term would have the possibility to anonymously discuss what they are searching for and, maybe, find relevant results and information faster for example.

    TBH, this is a feature that would make me migrate from Google to Bing in a second. :p
     
  5. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    Re: Microsoft adding a live [anonymous] chat feature to Bing.com?

    Awesome, definitely. I see a huge potential in this. People having the possibility of anonymously helping/collaborating with each other when searching for the same terms? Just wow.
     
  6. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    I'm just grateful for DDG.
     
  7. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    As long as the supposed Bing chat feature is really anonymous and/or can be accessed anonymously, I don't see why DDG couldn't make use of it too (remember that DDG already uses the Bing engine, lol).

    This is a bit different from the "social integration" with Facebook that Bing has right now (which allows some collaboration, but certainly not anonymously).
     
  8. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    If I'm not using DDG I'm using Maxthon Multi Search, which includes Google & Yahoo! inter alia. I've got nothing against Bing as a search engine, I honestly don't think that there is much between any of them. However I do like DDG for reasons of privacy.

    My point being ... is that this is just a marketing exercise by MS, that is if it ever actually comes to fruition.

    When I search for something, I want to find it as quickly as possible & move on. I just don't see the advantage of having conversations with total strangers in cyberspace.

    You probably can't see this, but this is just another MS marketing gimmick, possibly to entice more use with a failing search engine.

    It's a shame that it has had to come to this with Bing, as I kind of liked it. I really don't see the advantage over just searching normally. Aren't there browser extensions which can search for similar sites to the one you are using?

    If you were researching something that specific, surely you would find a forum that had people you could converse with?
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2013
  9. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    I don't see anything wrong with simply getting the possibility of having the anonymous conversations.

    In fact, this possibility could really improve the process of searching as long as the conversations happen to be productive. But this depends on the users, of course.

    Anyways, you really don't need to be so strongly against this feature (even more if you actually don't use Bing..).

    You certainly wouldn't be forced to take part of the anonymous conversations.... so, just let others enjoy it, :)

    I'm sure the conversations are going to be optional, lol.

    If you decide to take part of them, you may experience the materialization of their potential to be productive... or not.

    I don't know... maybe I just really like to talk with humans, so that's why this feature seems so interesting to me. lol.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2013
  10. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    I think it's a gimmick to be honest. If you want to talk to humans more, switch off your computer & go down the pub. ;)
     
  11. m00nbl00d

    m00nbl00d Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2009
    Posts:
    6,623
    Why not worry to provide an HTTPS version of bing first? o_O
     
  12. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    I have nothing against that and I do that regularly.

    But these are different kinds of conversations and I'm sure that you can understand this fact.

    Having the possibility of anonymously talking with humans that are searching the same thing that I'm searching for in a search engine is very interesting.
     
  13. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    No it isn't.
     
  14. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    For you, maybe. For me, it certainly is. :)
     
  15. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    I can't understand why they still don't provide Bing SSL! :doubt: :blink: o_O

    If anybody finds some answer, I would be glad to know (this would be a good time to search for "bing ssl" and talk with others searching for "bing ssl" as well, lol).

    Anyways, I think people may like this anonymous chat feature more than Bing SSL. :p
     
  16. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Posts:
    7,076
    Not me, I'd rather see Bing SSL. Not for my sake as I use DDG, for the sake of its growing userbase.
     
  17. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    Their apparent silence regarding this is intriguing. :doubt:
     
  18. twl845

    twl845 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2005
    Posts:
    4,186
    Location:
    USA
    I can see the possibility of two people searching for something like "hot girls", and discussing where the best place to look might be. :thumb:
     
  19. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2008
    Posts:
    10,239
    Location:
    Lloegyr
    ROTFL! Yeah, it's what it will ultimately be used for. :D
     
  20. safeguy

    safeguy Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2010
    Posts:
    1,797
    As long as it's optional (and there's no requirement to sign-in), I'm going to welcome this.

    I honestly think it might come in handy at times. For instance, I can see it as being useful for research/project works. For the individual research, he/she might find someone else searching for the same thing and that other "anonymous" person might clue him/her in on the subject better or share links that are more relevant. For teamwork, teammates can be searching for the same terms and discuss within the chat area directly.

    It's also a nice addition if a person is looking up on the latest news on someone/something (e.g. music, artists, films, politics, etc) and want to have a small talk (or light social interaction) on that topic without having to be part of another site/forum.

    We already have comments on blogs. We already have forums. Think of this as similar extension to a search engine.
     
  21. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2012
    Posts:
    2,016
    Location:
    North America
    Well, it's official, someone up in Redmond has lost their mind. WildHunter's continued marriage to MS and strange desire to be overly social on the Internet aside, this has to be the worst and most pointless idea I've seen any tech company come up with in a good while. Who, beyond our special friend up there, would even have a fleeting moment of time in which they thought "Hmm, I want to talk about Pizza Hut with somebody while I'm looking up their number on Google."? It's not even about how sad you'd look discussing search terms with some anonymous person over chat (and quite frankly you'd look really sad), but how utterly pointless it is to do so and how utterly ridiculous it is to throw money at such a thing. Even Mark Zuckerberg wouldn't waste his time on that, and he'll do damn near anything for data.

    I think at this point it's safe to say MS is trying way too hard to get people to save the Bing ship from disappearing beneath the waves. A valiant effort to try to save it, as it's a rather good engine usually. But let's try some more sensible measures, shall we?

    @Safeguy: You obviously aren't seeing the multitudes of ways this can go wrong, lol. Imagine all the various search terms that can be thought of in much different ways, and then think about people who didn't have quite the same idea you had suddenly popping up in your chat box or you being quite surprised when they answer much differently than you had planned.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2013
  22. m00nbl00d

    m00nbl00d Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2009
    Posts:
    6,623
    So, it's going to be another nightmare for parents, I suppose. While kids research about school stuff, they'll discuss about porn with someone random. Great. :rolleyes:
     
  23. guest

    guest Guest

    Somehow I got a strong feeling that this will raise a privacy problem, spam, and potentially more broken than some inappropriate YouTube comments. :doubt:
     
  24. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2012
    Posts:
    2,016
    Location:
    North America
    That very well could be a problem. I'm assuming (hoping) it will take Safe Search settings into account, even though Safe Search is a joke and easily removed. This whole thing seems more like Google than something MS would do. At best it's a useless feature that will likely gather cobwebs and occasionally fill 3 and a half seconds of ungodly boredom, with a helping of unwanted people chatting you up on the side. At worst, it'll be a Yahoo chatroom circa 2003.

    @GrafZepplin: The comments areas on Youtube are hopelessly doomed. Google doesn't give a crap about cutting down on any of the mess. I've seen several methods of blocking them, but most often it messes with the page loading or one day it just quits working as Google tweaks this and that.
     
  25. Wild Hunter

    Wild Hunter Former Poster

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2012
    Posts:
    1,375
    Mman79,

    It's pretty clear that you aren't against the feature per se: you're against humans and how they may misuse it.

    Oh, if the people that created and invested in the popularization of the web thought like you (look at the potential to open doors for new ways of crimes! Omg, we shouldn't create this!), they wouldn't create it.

    I'm glad there are more optimistic (and courageous?) people out there.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2013
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.