Just once it would be great if tech companies could lay off the hyperbole and posturing and just give it to us straight. Bing copying Google? Not really. Honeypot attack? Give me a break.
Here's what appears to be the truth:
The Bing toolbar keeps track of what people click on after doing a search. Even when it is from sites that aren't Bing. If it is a search for something obscure (or made up) that Bing has no other data for, then that clickstream data can affect Bing results for that term. Most of the time, however, that is just one of thousands of inputs. It is useful data, but not a defining part of the Bing engine.
This was obviously a huge PR move on Google's part. The information was released to a massive search engine blog right before a big search engine event with both Google and Bing in attendance. Bing could have come out of this shooting straight and looking like the more mature party, instead the come across like they are unsure of themselves and have been backed into a corner.
Here's what appears to be the truth:
The Bing toolbar keeps track of what people click on after doing a search. Even when it is from sites that aren't Bing. If it is a search for something obscure (or made up) that Bing has no other data for, then that clickstream data can affect Bing results for that term. Most of the time, however, that is just one of thousands of inputs. It is useful data, but not a defining part of the Bing engine.
This was obviously a huge PR move on Google's part. The information was released to a massive search engine blog right before a big search engine event with both Google and Bing in attendance. Bing could have come out of this shooting straight and looking like the more mature party, instead the come across like they are unsure of themselves and have been backed into a corner.
Score one for the bullshit artists at Google.