Microsoft's Bing goes live in preview (Update 2)

The buzz last week and building overnight (on Twitter) was that Microsoft's new search product, Bing, was going live early.


This morning, users of Live.com as well as MSN search got a little surprise ... two days early.

Prior to an upcoming multi media advertising blitz valued at 80-100 million dollars, Bing is now live in most time zones in 'preview mode'.

Bing Travel, born out of Microsoft's Farecast acquisition, is also now live as well as other new members of the 'Bing family', not exclusive of Bing Cashback.

The Bing preview video (using Silverlight) had been up for the past three days. Search experts and those just wondering how Bing will effect the search landscape can now test the product without invitation and, no doubt, we'll see a few thousand articles posted throughout the day.

Bing is being promoted not as a 'Internet Search Engine' but as a decision making product. Users with specific questions will be able, if all goes well for Microsoft, to type in a question or phrase and receive some relevant links in return.

With a few memories of 'Ask Jeeves' or maybe Yahoo Answers ... Bing is here.

Update 1: The Bing Community is also now active and getting busy along with a forum for feedback and questions. A few blogs within the community: Bing Maps, Bing Travel, Bing Developer, and the new Webmaster Community in Bing.