Google instant? Big deal! check out Bing Instant.

Note: Do not take it seriously! I did this just for fun. I respect both Microsoft and Google. They are the inspiration for any software developer. I was bit surprised when Google announced instant search. While it is not tough to implement on client side, it is definitely impresive advance in server technology. I did binginstant in a single day, hence it can not be compared to Google instant.

Not sure how successful “Google Instant” can become! They are making it a big deal. Want to experience the “Bing Instant”? Check out my creation – Bing Instant : http://www.binginstant.com

Here is how  Bing Instant works:

1. User starts typing keywords

2. Wait about 100 milliseconds between each key stroke (coz most of the geeks type faster than ajax can handle). And it is not wise to come in between user keystrokes, its like disrespect to the geek who is trying to form his search keyword.

3. When user pauses briefly (just about more than 100 milliseconds), make a call to bing suggest api to get the suggestions

4. Take the first suggestion and make another call to bing search api to get actual search results and of course show it on the page

5. That is it friends, you have bing predicted instant search results.

Let me know what you guys think?

Update: For the folks want to see the code, you can just try this: (you do not need to know programming at all )

1. Get your own AppID for Bing API from Bing Developer Center

2. Copy & paste the example from Bing API Sample to notepad and replace [var AppId = "Insert your AppId here";]  with your AppID from step 1.

3. Save your file as bing.htm and open it in your favorite browser. If you know a little bit of CSS and JQuery, you can do magic with results.

Read on…

Coz I built this awesomely genius excellent cool, or something like that (of course, I am joking) site binginstant.com on a lonely Sunday only to kill my boredom, which is getting about ~1000 hits per day (now hits are reduced ), I thought I can share my thoughts on Google instant.

I like most of Google services, they are simple and clean to use. I do not understand why Google is making such a big propaganda about instant? Is it just me got annoyed? May be not… there are many Google Instant Haters. Instant benefits more Google then casual user.

Google’s 90% of the sites use to be “Google beta” now they are called “Google labs”, I guess. Why did they not release instant as a labs experiment?

I would say Google’s biggest asset is its search “user base”. They should have learned from its big failure “Wave”. When they released “Wave” they portrayed it as a game changer for all communications. They said it is next generation tool to GTalk and GMail and so on. Wave is great product, but for a casual user, it’s too much.

Simplicity sells; being simple has been Google’s success. All of the sudden what happened to them? I wonder why Google thinks their “algorithms” and “index servers” are smarter than a human being; in forming a search query? I agree computers are faster, but not smarter than humans and they will never be.

Google built huge mapping database(s) between user “search query” and “indexed web content” over the years only because of real humans are forming search queries and clicking on the search results. Did Google decide that they have enough mappings between “search queries” and their “indexed web content”?

With instant, Google is killing the natural instinct/ability of human to form queries. If the users are only getting results for Google predicted keywords, and not to their intended query; which they never got a chance to finish, what will happen over years? How can the Google get naturally human formatted search queries from now on?

With Google instant, several ads will flash in front of your eyes for split of a second. I am sure they will catch your eye, especially when it is an image ad. Even if you think you did not see the ad, your sub-conscious mind registers them. This is really annoying. It gets even annoying if you use to typing slowly.

I remember some one told me that, there use to be “flash ads” on movie theaters. It’s like flashing a products image or logo on theater screen for split of a second. These type of ads make an impression on human brains even though they are shown for a split of a second. These type of ads are completely banned (I was told so). I wonder how users can handle floods of unnecessary results and ads they see before they finish their keywords!

I wonder if Google forgot that “enter” is also a key on keyboard. Very few users will take off their hand from key board, to hold the mouse and to move the cursor on to search button and then click on it. I type fast (considerably) and I never pause between my keyword and enter key; it goes in a flow. I guess it is the same case with most of you. I keep hitting enter key “with instant on”, only to realize it is not going to work. It’s funny that they left the “search” button only to close extra suggestions.

I only hope Google will be more thoughtful before making any disastrous decisions. Don’t fix, if it ain’t broken.

I would like to hear your thoughts, leave a comment.

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