In a comment to yesterday's post, Mr Yorkshire Pudding asked if Bing Copilot was related to Bing Crosby. Always taking comments from my readers seriously (hrm), I went directly to the source for an answer...
Me: Why is Bing called Bing?
Copilot: Bing, the search engine owned by Microsoft, has an interesting backstory behind its name. Let’s delve into it:
1. Dr. Richard Bing: The name “Bing” is attributed to Dr. Richard Bing, who was 99 years old when he reached out to Microsoft. In a fax to Mich Mathews, the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Dr. Bing expressed his interest in collaborating with Microsoft because they had “used his name for our new search engine”. (1) It’s quite remarkable that a nonagenarian played a role in naming a major search engine!
2. Origins and Interpretations: The name “Bing” has various interpretations and meanings. One theory suggests that it originated from the Germanic word “bion,” which means “to stay” or “to dwell.” Over time, “bion” evolved into “bing,” a term associated with a heap or pile. (2) Perhaps this reflects the idea of accumulating information and knowledge through search.
3. Integration with Microsoft: In 2020, Microsoft rebranded Bing as “Microsoft Bing” to better reflect its integration with other Microsoft products. The new name emphasizes how Bing seamlessly integrates with the broader Microsoft ecosystem. (3)
So, whether it’s a nod to Dr. Richard Bing or a play on words related to gathering information, the name “Bing” has become synonymous with online search.
(1) thewindowsclub.com
(2) letslearnslang.com
(3) windowscentral.com
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| Bing AI designer at work in his office |
And apparently, this is what Bing looks like. No doubt about it - I got four pictures of the same guy. (He does seem to take pride in changing his shirt every day, though.)
Judge for yourselves whether he might be related to Bing Crosby or not.
I actually can't rule it out...
13 comments:
Fascinating Bing research. Perhaps you were reminded of your teenage placement in Wadworth near Doncaster and the curious working class English custom of visiting bingo halls at the weekend. Perhaps Bing is just a shortened form of Bingo. Well, that's my theory anyway.
YP, while my Yorkshire family did their best to introduce me to other curious English working class customs, I'm afraid they failed to include bingo halls and pub quiz nights. Mind you, I was only 16 at the time... There may have been age limits involved!
They do look just a bit alike!
They look very similar, but not exactly the same. The guy in the lower left picture looks very much like a young professor I know through my volunteer work - in fact, I think I will send him a link to your blog for himself to have a look :-D
Wikipedia's entry about Bing is interesting, too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bing
About the name, it says:
"The Bing name was chosen through focus groups, and Microsoft decided that the name was memorable, short, and easy to spell, and that it would function well as a URL around the world. The word would remind people of the sound made during "the moment of discovery and decision making". [...] The name also has strong similarity to the word bingo, which means that something sought has been found, as called out when winning the game Bingo. Microsoft advertising strategist David Webster proposed the name "Bang" for the same reasons the name Bing was ultimately chosen (easy to spell, one syllable, and easy to remember). He noted, "It's there, it's an exclamation point [...] It's the opposite of a question mark." Bang was ultimately not chosen because it could not be properly used as a verb in the context of an internet search; Webster commented "Oh, 'I banged it' is very different than 'I binged it'".
To be honest, as long as it's efficient and provides the information I want, I really don't care what it's called - or who it looks like!
Ginny, enough to make me suspect Bing AI might have a sense of humour...
Meike, now you make me wonder if Yorkshire Pudding also writes Wikipedia posts.
Carol, neither do I. Just testing it a bit to try and figure out its stengths vs weaknesses...
I think the new Bing is the great grandson of the Crosby Bing, and bears a striking resemblance to him. I do have to say, Bing doesn't do nearly as good a job at searching as Google does. I only use Bing to rack up points for searching, also Microsoft maps is not where near what Google is. I am waiting for Google to turn lose their AI..
Glad you see the resemblance too, Sandra! ;) On the whole I still prefer "good old googling" as well when searching for info. But testing AI a bit in not too serious contexts to learn a bit how it works and when it might be useful...
Yes Bing could be related to the original Bing. However I'm not that fussed on internet Bing, I find I get better information from google.
Amy, I tend to agree. So far I'm just playing around with it a bit, trying to grasp both what it can do, vs what it's not really all that good at (yet).
Could also be Tasker Dunham's work :-D
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