Microsoft's search engine to pose more challenges to Google

BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft's search engine Bing, launched May this year, is going to add more applications and tools as an upgrading step to challenge the search engine market leader Google, according to reports Thursday.

Search engine websites as Google and others respond to users' queries by providing links to other websites that netizens can access to information easily.

Bing, as a search engine, currently ranks third behind Google and Yahoo, introduced several changes Wednesday aimed at answering people's questions without sending them to an outside page.

Microsoft will show on the results page more information on travel options, events and attractions in destination locations, up-to-date weather forecasts, product details and even hospital reviews, often obtained from multiple sources, including some with which the company has forged deals. Users can also type in complicated math equations or even ask Bing to solve a math question and get accurate answers intelligently.

The improvements are expected to begin to appear on Bing in the next few days.

Microsoft has begun to compete with Google in many fields. Last month, Microsoft announced a deal with Twitter at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Soon after the Microsoft announcement, Google unveiled its deal with Twitter via its official blog.