Gartner Group analyst Allen Weiner agreed that Bing isn't presenting a radical new way to search the Web. "I don't see anything that you can say, wow, I can't do this on Google or Yahoo," he said.

For example, three areas that Weiner thinks represent the future of search -- data visualization, semantic search and rich media search -- are missing from Bing as it was introduced on Thursday. None of the other major search-engine companies have been able to tackle these areas either, but they are heading in that direction.

However, what Bing does provide Microsoft is a way to catch up to what competitors have now in terms of features, Weiner said.

"It's a marked improvement from Live Search," he said. "They've done a lot to make the interface more usable, to make it cleaner-looking -- a lot with the algorithms to make the search results on par with their competitors for most searches."

The name, which has been the subject of much debate, also differentiates the brand for Microsoft. One insider said Microsoft chose the name because "bing" represents the sound made when a person finds something they're looking for.