Loading ...
So I have to ask a question that seems to not be getting asked.
As you can see above the Google homepage now has an image background as the default. I went to Google this morning and without having opted to have them display a background picture for me I get one.
In fact if you click on the link in the lower left hand corner of their homepage your taken to a page to show you several options for images to be your background:
All good right?
Well I say no actually.
Bing, Microsoft’s popular search engine, has been using background images since day 1 to highlight on their homepage. In fact those images are so popular they have spawned websites and Windows 7 themes that feature those images:
- Bing Image Archive by Long Zheng
- Bing Windows 7 Themes from Microsoft
There is even instructions on how to use RSS as the basis of a Windows 7 Theme to grab the daily Bing picture and put it on your desktop – Get a Live-Updating Bing Wallpaper Windows 7 Theme.
So this feature of having a background photo on their website was a key Bing feature and now it is apparent that Google is duplicating the popularity of this and adding the feature to their homepage.
Anyone have an issue with that? Personally, I have not seen anything in my RSS feeds that would lead me to believe that there is an issue with them using the feature Bing established.
I think if the shoe was on the other foot and this was Microsoft copying a feature that another company was using then there would be an uproar. It has happened in the past when people thought Microsoft was copying others.
This is such a blatant use of Bing’s photo background idea and now it has become a default setting so that the image appears when you go to Google to use the search engine.
Just like Bing always has been.
I guess we can fall back on the old phrase of “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”.
What do you think?
Related Posts
- Is Google Copying Bing Again?
- New Live Search Homepage Revealed
- Microsoft Default Manager
- Original Bing Dynamic Windows 7 Theme Updates for 13 Sep 2011
- Bing Image of the Day and Search Gadget
This post first appeared on WindowsObserver.com. If you enjoyed it please make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed and join our Facebook Fan Page to stay up to date.
Subscribe to
i think google is wayyyyyy better than bing.. bing is just a stupid dummer version of google trying to be better than itt… use GOOGLE PEOPLE NOT BING!
No. It’s still an option at the bottom of the page. And like the horrible redesign of their image search, it’s sad to see Google move from innovator to blatant imitator. It reeks of desperately trying to retain relevance.
My solution: Google Chrome + wallpapers for new tab created via http://chromizer.com/ + google search from address bar.
Is Google copying Bing's homepage background image feature? http://goo.gl/Gxwx
no, no its not. bing is copying google!
They have abandoned the background early:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/10/google-kills-its-homepage-background-image-experiment-early/
It was originally supposed to run for 24 hours and then become an option. The option to have a background image is still there in the lower left corner of the screen.
Apparently the term “remove google background” was trending on Twitter!
One way to avoid the image is to use https://www.google.com [note the "S"]
Thanks for the tip on that. They say it goes away unless you select it as of tomorrow.
Just saw this story:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/10/why-does-google-have-a-background/
Which indicates the background today is instead of a Google Doodle. Tomorrow you will not get one by default but you can put a picture there if you want to.
Still strikes me as an attempt to duplicate Bing.
Is Google Directly Copying Bing’s Homepage Background Image Feature? http://bit.ly/9kBXFa
BONG!! Don’t default me to a cheesy photo-let me CHOOSE if I want a pic-I’m a photographer by trade.The “add a background page” says you can remove a photo,but all you can do is CHANGE a photo to some kludge.
I think its annoying. Give me the option to change it back please
I went looking for that option this morning and could not find anything. There is however a way to change the background.
Someone posted this image on yFrog this morning of their new Google image:
http://yfrog.com/6192mpcj
They called it “Bingle”!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eric Luquette, Jeff Davis, KE9V. Jeff Davis, KE9V said: Is Google copying Bing's homepage background image feature? http://goo.gl/Gxwx [...]