Well, at least when it comes to searching for images it does. For the past few years I’ve used Google’s image search exclusively. But I started using Live Search’s image search and actually like it quite a bit more.
Take a look at this image search for “Seattle Mariners”
I like the results in Live a lot better than in Google. Live’s images are a lot more diverse and there’s less duplication. The look is very clean and I really like the “size slider” that allows you to increase or decrease the size of the images on the page. Nice touch.
Google’s results page looks cluttered by comparison. Also, the results listed on the first page aren’t very compelling. I don’t know what Microsoft is doing behind the scenes but Live’s results are a lot more in tune with what I’m after.
Live also includes a very cool feature called “Scratchpad” you’ll find in the upper right corner. Click on the scratchpad and a frame appears on the right which allows you to drag images to while you continue to peruse the results. Very easy to use and extremely helpful when I’m after multiple images or when I need to compare more than one image found on differing pages.
People who don’t feel that Google has any competition are wrong. Google may have a near monopoly on basic search but the barrier to entry is so low that switching search engines is trivial.
Microsoft has proven that they can innovate in this space and I hope they continue to give Google all the competition they can handle.
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