Microsoft responds to new Google Instant feature

Microsoft has officially responded to the new feature Google introduced last week. It's less of a "Yeah, we're doing that too", and more of a "We're working on solving the same root problems". This is a refreshing response -- and shows that Bing's primary goal isn't to duplicate everything Google does, but to give people great solutions to real problems they are having.

"It's great to see continued innovation in search, in particular the level of energy in this space over the last 12-15 months. From improving accuracy of results to speeding up time to complete tasks, there are a lot of opportunities to improve today's search engine and we're working hard to do so. When Bing and Google compete to improve search, consumers win."

I do think, however, that if left too long, Google's instant search is going to eventually become the norm (like it or not). Over time, the difference between Google and Bing will begin to feel like Google Maps and Map Quest did.