"Bing needed to redesign itself. It was the Dr. Pepper of the search market, and if it was ever going to make a move, it needed to do something different," he added. "I think the social search wars will be a great battlefront over the next few years. Bing has made their play and now it's back to Google to respond."

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at , or subscribe to . Her e-mail address is .

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