Bing 2.0 “Visual Search” Launched by Microsoft

Microsoft unveiled its latest venture, Bing 2.0 also known as Bing Visual Search on the 14th of this month at TechCrunch50. This is a unique tool which allows users to ‘search by picture’, hence the name. Since the highly speculative annual meeting of Microsoft at Seattle, many had expected Bing Maps to get updated by using Silverlight technology.

Instead Microsoft rolled out Bing Visual Search using Silverlight technology which allows users to easily browse and navigate through ‘structured data sets’ obtained from key partners. This new tool can be found just below Travel on the homepage under the search categories but there is a high likelihood that the links can get lost in the vivid colors of the homepage image of the day. Similar to Travel, Visual Search link also cannot be found on the top navigation once the Bing search results are displayed. Along with general web search queries, users can also make use of the Visual Search data set to explore the visual images accompanying the data.

Bing 2.0 Visual Search intends to provide its users clear imagery to sort through a vast amount of data that is available. This feature has been launched in beta and the visual information is currently limited to a few things like cars, animals, people and products. It is necessary to have Silverlight application installed on the browser for users to experience the visual richness of Bing 2.0.

This tool will fit in perfectly with Bing shopping as users can now visualize the various items in the merchandise category before purchase. Unlike other categories, Visual Search targets the younger generation who are increasingly dependent on their iPods and iPhones. This novel idea from Microsoft definitely stands to win as visually enriched data is always interesting to the human eye.

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