Washington state goes with Bing |
Follow the ups and downs of a new Seattle startup in a series of behind-the-scenes posts by its founders.
As Microsoft's new Bing search engine goes head to head with Google, it can count at least one major customer in its camp: Washington state. The state just announced it's going with home-grown Bing over Google to power the search feature on its official website.
The Washington State Department of Information Services spent a couple years looking at search engines and considered Google, Yahoo and others. Did the state choose Bing because Microsoft is based here?
"Of course we like that it's a local provider," said state DIS spokeswoman Joanne Todd, "but the bottom line was to get the best search engine we can get, and Bing was the best solution."
Todd said Bing is providing the search function to the state internet portal for free.
Will Washington state employees now be using Bing for their daily work as well? Todd said state employees are still free to use any search engine they like, including Google.
Follow my updates on Twitter.
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
READ FULL BIOGRAPHYSeattle Repertory Theatre presents Glengarry Glen Ross Feb 5th to Feb 28th
One of the largest and most renowned regional theatres in the country, Seattle Repertory Theatre produces a mix of celebrated classics, recent Broadway hits and cutting-edge new works in two theatre spaces. Now playing David Mamet's American classic Glengarry Glen Ross through February 28. Join us for Sales Rep Industry night February 11 with the Puget Sound Business Journal. For details click here.
Join the Microsoft WebsiteSpark program and get software, support and visibility – at no upfront cost. You’ll benefit from fast and easy access to current Microsoft development tools, platform technology and server products including Visual Studio, Expression Studio, Silverlight, Windows Web Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 Web.
Seattle-based Adhost is a WebsiteSpark hosting partner providing dedicated servers with free Windows Web Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 licensing for three years to Web developers enrolled in WebsiteSpark. Servers are located in our secure data center with SAS 70 Type II certification, 24x7 technical support and 24x7 client access.
WTIA 15th Annual Industry Achievement Awards
Held on March 4th at the Showbox SODO, this casual event celebrates and recognizes some of the best emerging and established companies in the Washington Tech Industry. The evening will feature a finalist company technology showcase and a variety of coffee, chocolate, and wine samples from local companies. More than 800 attendees are expected to be present at the celebration. Public online voting for Technology Leader of Tomorrow Scholarships will open February 3rd on the WTIA site.
We congratulate the 2010 finalists and look forward to unveiling the winners on March 4th. REGISTER NOW!