Microsoft"s Bing search web site has always had a new and colorful photo every day on its front page, as opposed to the all white background for Google"s front page. Today, users of HTML5-based web browsers who surf over to Bing.com will see something different. Instead of a static image, the front page now has a background that runs a time-lapsed video showing several hours of a rural mountain horizon.
Microsoft"s Bing blog site states that non-HTML5 web browsers will see a static image on the front page when Microsoft puts in a video. The HTML5 video page can only be seen by US web surfers for some reason but Microsoft plans to open up the video page to other parts of the world in the next few months. There"s also another video on the blog page that goes into a little more detail about how the Bing team at Microsoft picks which images and videos they decide to feature on the front page. There won"t be a new video every day on Bing.com. Microsoft says it will post a new video on the front page "just when the mood strikes us."
Bing"s market share is growing in the search business but as we reported earlier this week, it has a long way to go before it can make a significant dent in Google"s search business. Bing has so far lost $5.5 billion for Microsoft since the web site launched back in 2009 and it doesn"t look like it will be making money anytime soon, if ever.