Industry titans Microsoft Corpand Google Incare getting rave reviews this week about innovative new approaches to Internet search and communications, respectively(See our comparison in "Bing vsGoogle vsYahoo: Feature Smackdown.")
Even Apple Incco-founder Steve Wozniak told a reporter that Microsoft's new Bing search engine looks "astounding" and that he's "a big fan, now."
There's much to likeIn a nutshell, Bing does more to surface information you're probably looking for than Google doesFor example, if you search for a company, one of the top results will present links to customer service, store locator -- that kind of information.
If you haven't seen it, go here to see the Microsoft pitch for Bing.
Looks great, right? What's not to likeWell...
Bashing Bing
If you'll notice, the URL for the video link above is: DecisionEngine.comAnd that's exactly what Bing does better than GoogleIt makes decisions for youOf more concern is that it makes decisions for all usersSo what's wrong with that?
Well, nothing for you and meFor individual people, Bing is a nice alternative to Google and the other search enginesIt can save you time and hassle for some kinds of searches -- no question about it.
The problem is how Bing might affect culture, especially if Google copies some of its features to neutralize Microsoft as a competitorIn other words, if search engines that made decisions for you is a trend, it's probably a bad trend, not a good one.
Decisions are -- and must be -- based on value judgmentsTo use Bing is to see the Internet through Microsoft's corporate valuesFor example:
Yes, Bing is easyIt's always easy to have someone else choose your values and make your decisions for youBut is that good for society?
Whacking Wave
Google Wave also demos wellAnd what's not to like? The prototype promises the joining together of e-mail, chat, photo sharing and other forms of communication into a single online app.
At first glance, the "hosted" messaging system of Wave looks compellingYou can comment to a specific part of a conversation by dropping in your note right there in the message (rather than copying and pasting).
This feature looks great on stage, but I fear in practice it will result in confusionIt's sort of like how Google currently does GmailUnlike other e-mail systems, where the most recent message is at the top, Gmail has some mysterious system for how it orders threaded commentsI and others I've spoken to constantly find ourselves confused about where the most recent comment isThe thread feels shuffled.
Wave looks like it could make this situation even worseAfter bouncing stuff back and forth, and after people comment on various parts of the thread, adding commentary at the top, bottom and middle of the original message, clarity about what's old, new, moot or relevant seems unlikely.
The other major problem with Wave is its generous contribution to the larger problem of over complexity and information overloadThere is so much going on here that Wave fights against the quest for clarity, simplicity and minimalism - the qualities that made Google famousThis is essentially what Microsoft attempted with Outlook, and the result was bloat" It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping! " I'm not sure we need yet another app that does everything.
What's bad about both
The biggest problem with Bing and Wave is that both are on the wrong side of two technology-design battles raging in the industryThe first is the battle over linearity, and the other is the battle for mobility.
Have you noticed that every massively popular new way to communicate in the past few years has shared the attribute of perfect linearity? First e-mail, then chat, then blogs, then Twitter -- all provided the benefit of strict, top-to-bottom, most-recent-first organizationLinearity imposes clarity on information, and puts the user's mind at easeAll attempts to "improve" these media with non-linear views have failedPeople love linearity.
But this is exactly how both Microsoft and Google are trying to improve search and communication, respectively: by introducing non-linearityIn the case of Bing, Microsoft displays results in order down the middle of the pageBut there are alternative results on the left as wellIt's not a big deal, and Google has introduced similar non-linearity in recent yearsBut Google got rich and famous by providing a single search box, followed by a single ordered list of results.
In the case of Wave, the many killer features may be overshadowed by the amount of "stuff" happening all over the pageI'd love to have the good features, such as the ability to see the other person typing, but in a single, linear column from newest to oldest.
Finally, constant improvements in the quality of mobile devices have created the possibility of sites that work great on screens both big and smallI want giant companies that play in both spaces, such as Microsoft and Google, to drive this initiativeThey should seek ways to get everything working great on all devices, and to avoid systems where there's a PC version and a separate mobile versionBoth Bing and Wave appear to be optimized for big screens and unrealistic for phones and other mobile devices.
This was a great week for announcements about innovative new productsBut announcements are really nothing more than sales pitchesLet's all reserve judgment about these two exciting new technologies until we can see for ourselves what effect they'll have on what's really important: Our ability to focus, think clearly and make decisions objectively.
Mike Elgan writes about technology and global tech cultureHe blogs about the technology needs, desires and successes of mobile warriors in his Computerworld blog, The World Is My OfficeContact Mike at mike.elgan@elgan.com, follow him on Twitter or his blog, The Raw Feed.