"The 411 Parable": Goog411 vs Bing411 - Make sure you are playing the same game.

I was working at Microsoft/Tellme at the time Bing411 was launched and would like to state a few facts:<p>- When launched, Bing411 was essentially a re-branding of Tellme's 1-800-555-TELL service.<p>- 1-800-555-TELL has been running since 2000 or something like that. I attended the 10th anniversary party, which I believe was in 2010.<p>- Microsoft didn't need to launch a Microsoft-branded 411 to collect utterances, for they had acquired Tellme and had many utterances coming in under their umbrella of services<p>- Tellme's bread and butter was speech recognition on the telephone and they are still in that space today, so Bing411, 1-800-555-TELL are still relevant for them.<p>I can also say that a lot of the speculation in the article about Microsoft's "reaction" is just wrong. But, I won't go into specifics because they aren't relevant.<p>I enjoyed the author's original point about making sure you are playing the same game. Unfortunately, the example used is factually inaccurate.

The tone of this article bothers me. There are some smart people working at Microsoft. The level of discussion is higher than "Hey, google made a thing, we need the same thing."<p>Like the article points out, Microsoft has no shortage of utterances due to their acquisition of Tellme. Why, then, do they need to mine utterances with Bing 411? (Assuming they don't--I'm sure they do.) Bing 411 is a genuinely useful service that adds value to the Bing brand. It needs no additional reason to exist.<p>All this aside, the article is factually incorrect. It implies that localeze was contracted to provide Bing 411. In fact, localeze provides listings (according to the press release the article links), and are presumably one of many listing providers used. Microsoft/Tellme provide the actual Bing 411 service. I don't know for sure, but Tellme's (now Microsoft's) 1-800-555-TELL number almost definitely predates GOOG-411.

Somehow, it doesn't seem like Google's plan was much of a secret, even back in 2007: <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/goog-411-isnt-what-you-think/852" rel="nofollow">http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/goog-411-isnt-what-you-thin...</a>

While I cannot speculate on Microsoft purpose of a 411 service, I think it is pretty obvious why google dumped theirs - they now have access to an enormous source of human speech through google voice.

I'll play devil's advocate here. Are we sure Microsoft is not doing the same data mining on Bing411 as Google did on Goog411, and haven't dumped it because it is either a valuable service in their eyes or they are not done gleaning what google gleaned from their head start?<p>I somehow doubt this is the case but I'm not so sure we can assume that it is not.

It still seems really odd to me that Google 86'd all explicit phone number directory -related stuff. The "phonebook:" operator is no more either. Yes, I know traditional web search and Maps are pretty good most of the time, but I come across many cases where they are not. Especially when it's a residential phone number (that is otherwise publicly listed) or a less web savvy local business.<p>Phone directories may, in fact, be very antiquated but they're still a thing, the data is there and often useful. Why not index it? Why not let me expressly look-up a phone number anymore?

Interesting read. But the best part for me was learning about a new free 411 service. At least once a week, I start to call Goog411 before sadly remembering the service was discontinued.

Even if we accept the very dubious premise that Bing411 was motivated entirely by a misunderstanding of Google's aims for Goog411, so what? A good cautionary tale needs to demonstrate the dire consequences of whatever you're cautioning against, but you haven't actually showed anything bad happening to Bing or Microsoft as a result of their alleged confusion. Really not the best vehicle for your moral.