Bing in Opera

June 17, 2010 · by Espen André Øverdahl

Following the release of Opera 10.60 beta, some of you might have noticed a changes in the Opera Speed Dial. We are excited to announce that we have entered into an agreement with the folks at Bing to to make their search the new speed dial search.

Please note that Bing is not the default search engine in Opera. Google is still the default. Bing is just another option you can use.

Our very own coxy made a nice comment in the Bing blog (can't say the same about the last comment ), but try both the new search and the Opera 10.60 beta and make up your own mind.

Readers' comments 71

Left under the original article, as archived.

Sandmonkey 92Thursday, June 17, 2010 9:18:45 AM
soo, how much money are they giving you?
Floris Fiedeldij DopThursday, June 17, 2010 9:23:04 AM
Another one moving to Bing, you can see Microsoft is paying good money to work on their brand name getting out there. Sorry Opera .. I prefer Google Search .. don't fix what isn't broken.

.. back to Chrome I go. http://quicklink.me/chrome

[edit]
.."Please note that Bing is not the default search engine in Opera. Google is still the default. Bing is just another option you can use."..

The original article text didn't imply this, but glad to hear more search options have become available.
Mikey BThursday, June 17, 2010 9:24:37 AM
It's a shame that you're making Bing default, even though it is easy to change, I dislike this and it's bound to be just another annoyance when installing Opera from scratch, I think that this is going to be more hassle than it is worth.
LucaThursday, June 17, 2010 9:28:18 AM
good news for opera team i think
that's enough for me
Since opera it's free, no one can blame for this
ZotlanThursday, June 17, 2010 9:29:47 AM
Originally posted by MrFloris:

.. back to Chrome I go. http://quicklink.me/chrome

You let the default search engine setting dictate your browser choice?
Personally i do not realy care what they choose as the default, as long as they do not touch my preferences.
sirnh1Thursday, June 17, 2010 9:29:47 AM
And the first thing I did was remove bing (completely) and make ask my default search engine again (everywhere)...
AbhinavThursday, June 17, 2010 9:34:19 AM
yeah noticed that ... but its my RIGHT to change it to GOOGLE
Espen André ØverdahlThursday, June 17, 2010 9:35:37 AM
You don't have to change anything. Bing is not the default search engine in Opera. Google is still the default. Bing is just another option you can use.
Sorawit SiangjaeoThursday, June 17, 2010 9:37:58 AM
I don't use search box in speed dial page (nor the one on the address bar) anyway, so this doesn't affect me really. And I personally use Bing as my default search engine (as I don't want Google to rule my internet world!). I hope MS will continue working with Opera in order to bring Silverlight to the browser.
Floris Fiedeldij DopThursday, June 17, 2010 9:42:58 AM
Despite that it is free, customer (user) feedback is surely welcomed, it helps the team get an impression of what their downloaders of the .zip are thinking.
Mikey BThursday, June 17, 2010 9:43:22 AM
Originally posted by EspenAO:

You don't have to change anything. Bing is not the default search engine in Opera. Google is still the default. Bing is just another option you can use.

I see a contradiction, you state that Bing will
Originally posted by EspenAO:

"make their search engine the new speed dial search engine"
in the original post, this is what lead me to believe you are changing the default search engine to Bing.

Is Bing going to be the default SE of the Speed Dial AND the Search Bar, or just the Speed Dial, or just the Search Bar, or none..?

I realize that not everyone speaks English as a native language, which is why I'm asking for clarification, just in case I misinterpreted the post.
Floris Fiedeldij DopThursday, June 17, 2010 9:44:54 AM
Originally posted by Zotlan:

You let the default search engine setting dictate your browser choice?

Yes, search is the thing I use besides social bookmarks, if it is not implemented how I personally desire it, AND the browser is loading up slow .. I switch to something else. I went from IE to FF, to Chrome/Safari. And I try every version of Opera in the mean time.
AbhinavThursday, June 17, 2010 9:50:07 AM
Originally posted by EspenAO:

You don't have to change anything. Bing is not the default search engine in Opera. Google is still the default. Bing is just another option you can use.

in the speed dial ... Bing is the default search engine
ChrisThursday, June 17, 2010 9:52:47 AM
Originally posted by MrFloris:

Another one moving to Bing, you can see Microsoft is paying good money to work on their brand name getting out there. Sorry Opera .. I prefer Google Search .. don't fix what isn't broken.

.. back to Chrome I go.

What makes you think you can't use Google search from Opera?

Even if Bing replaced Google as the default search engine, it would be trivial to add Google as a custom search.
Espen André ØverdahlThursday, June 17, 2010 9:53:23 AM
Originally posted by MadMikeyB:

just the Speed Dial
This. And it's added as a search choice in the search bar. If you are using Opera 10.60 beta, you will still have Google as the default search.
ChrisThursday, June 17, 2010 9:54:09 AM
Originally posted by MadMikeyB:

I see a contradiction, you state that Bing will

Where's the contradiction? It clearly states that it's just the speed dial search.
Aleksander AasThursday, June 17, 2010 9:54:12 AM

It's only the speed dial search, not the address bar search. The address bar search is the most useful for me, and that remains Google!

However, to mix it up, I'm going to bing it all until the end of the week!
AbhinavThursday, June 17, 2010 9:56:44 AM
you can change the default search engine for the speed dial page too. Go HERE
Livio RibeiroThursday, June 17, 2010 10:08:31 AM
I can't understand why some people believe that everything from Microsoft is evil. Bing is a search engine like any other and if you don't like it, just don't use, the default search engine is still Google.

Opera have profit from the search engine and it's very important. As an example, 90% of the revenue of Mozilla were from Google through search field.

So, please, don't be racist against Bing, if it will help make Opera better, it will be good for us all
SiddharthaThursday, June 17, 2010 10:13:14 AM
still cannot search in cyrillic from the address bar

this url is generated when i type in directly: http://www.bing.com/search?q=%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82
this is when i type into the address bar http://www.bing.com/search?q=%D4%C5%D3%D4

seems bing requires Utf-8, while opera sends ISO-1859

[edit]
and bing is defined twice in the search engines list
JorjyThursday, June 17, 2010 10:17:47 AM
How disgusting. Hey guys read the article first then post your comment here. They added bing as a search engine too but google is still the default search engine. Recently safari 5 did the same thing. They added bing as a search engine but like before google is still their default search engine. So microsoft paid apple to add their search engine on apple's browser?!
anyway thank you opera team For adding bing.
Mikey BThursday, June 17, 2010 10:25:21 AM
Originally posted by jorjy27:

How disgusting. Hey guys read the article first then post your comment here.

They have since edited it to clarify, thanks.
coolmyllThursday, June 17, 2010 10:37:29 AM
Will we see suggestions on bing and google? Why only wikipedia?
JorjyThursday, June 17, 2010 10:41:53 AM
when i'll get bing & yahoo as a default search engine on my Opera mini 4.2 & OM5?
Mary TeeThursday, June 17, 2010 10:56:29 AM
Hi Opera--I was a paying customer, back in the day. So you know I have been with you for a long time.

I understand why you had to strike this deal with MS. And I am sure you will understand why I will be changing the default search engine to google.
Mağruf ÇolakoğluThursday, June 17, 2010 10:57:45 AM
Interesting news and agreement especially with MS. I hope it brings good financial result...
Aleksander AasThursday, June 17, 2010 11:00:12 AM
Originally posted by Siddhartha:

and bing is defined twice in the search engines list

"http://www.bing.com/search?q=%s&form=OPRTSD&pc=OPER" is my search, try changing it to that. As for being defined two times: confirmed beta bug

Originally posted by lilmoder:

Opera, seriously?

BING! Yes, but it's still your call!
Ryan SalzgeberThursday, June 17, 2010 11:47:11 AM
First thing I did when when setting my preferences was delete Bing entirely. It's a little annoying, but as long as it stays free it's fine with me.
techlawsamThursday, June 17, 2010 11:48:10 AM
wow so now you guys finally bring "bing" into your browser and actually reach an agreement? wow!
johannes96Thursday, June 17, 2010 12:08:55 PM
Ahh i wish it would be yahoo as the default search engine?

How much do you earn for 1 search?...I'll may change?
thegodspeedThursday, June 17, 2010 1:03:07 PM
Come on, competition is good, Google is still my nr. 1 choice though.
mlouisThursday, June 17, 2010 1:04:19 PM
Yeah its kinda lame
But I dont rly care because I replace the originals speeddial.ini and search.ini right after dling Opera

And good for you if it was on Microsoft's demand, it means they noticed that number of opera users is growing
Artur „Jurgi” JurgawkaThursday, June 17, 2010 1:42:55 PM
Originally posted by sandmonkey92:

how much money are they giving you?

I want to ask the same question. If that'll earn you some money, then I will use Bing from time to time. If not, I'll stay with Google and Ask.com.
ChrisThursday, June 17, 2010 1:47:14 PM
Originally posted by lilmoder:

Opera, seriously?

What's the problem?

Originally posted by MaryTee:

And I am sure you will understand why I will be changing the default search engine to google.

The default search engine is still Google. Bing is just an alternative, and used for speed dial.
Nastase GabrielThursday, June 17, 2010 1:56:12 PM
Fine browser here.enjoy my opera.
RijkThursday, June 17, 2010 1:57:11 PM
The previous default search for the Speed dial, and the second choice in the search engine list after Google, was until now Ask.com.

With the release of 10.60 the Ask.com entry is getting replaced by Bing - certainly remarkable! But if you only ever used the Google search from the top-right search box or by typing 'g searchthis' in the address field, you'll hardly notice the chance.
RijkThursday, June 17, 2010 2:00:05 PM
Originally posted by Jurgi:

If that'll earn you some money, then I will use Bing from time to time. If not, I'll stay with Google and Ask.com.
Using either the built-in Google or Bing searches will earn us a little money. Use the one that gives you the best results and/or the one you are most comfortable with.
RijkThursday, June 17, 2010 2:01:33 PM
Originally posted by mlouis:

I replace the originals speeddial.ini and search.ini right after dling Opera
I hope you don't use Google entries in your custom ini files without the Opera identifier - now *that* would really be lame.
Artur „Jurgi” JurgawkaThursday, June 17, 2010 2:12:50 PM
Rijk, thanks.
AdrianPMThursday, June 17, 2010 2:34:45 PM
Good choice to choose Bing, at last! Personally, I use Google on Speed Dial and Bing on the Search bar.

Anyways, I have a lot of search engines anyway, including Ask, Cuil, Wolphram|Alpha...

The good thing about Bing is that it lets you filter your search by country, one of the real reasons I always preferred Google before, and also it catches a lot less of auction sites pages on its searches than Google.

And if you get paid over this, much better!
Charles SchlossThursday, June 17, 2010 3:02:41 PM

I wonder if people know that they can use any custom search as the default
Ramasubramanian KrishnamurthiThursday, June 17, 2010 3:41:16 PM
Wow!!! Congrats
Thanks for adding Bing to the list which was left out in previous versions.

Who ever likes Google can anyway set the Google as default.
SuntanaThursday, June 17, 2010 3:42:30 PM
Originally posted by Espen André Øverdahl:

Our very own coxy made a nice comment in the Bing blog (can't say the same about the last comment ),

I say we put on our Cowboy Hats, Boots, Spurs ... 6-Shooters ... get on our horses, organize a Posse and head on out and take care of this! http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Guns.gif -

http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/ROFL.gif - Just Kidding! http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/LOL.gif - I only tried Bing like once yesterday. It seemed slower than Google as I searched for images. I'll give it a couple more chances. Yahoo is also slower than Google for me. This is of course on my Dial Up. I've tried Bing before on my friends' High Speed Internet and it did OK there.
Rafael LuikThursday, June 17, 2010 5:02:34 PM
Originally posted by livioribeiro:

I can't understand why some people believe that everything from Microsoft is evil. Bing is a search engine like any other and if you don't like it, just don't use

Originally posted by livioribeiro:

Opera have profit from the search engine and it's very important. As an example, 90% of the revenue of Mozilla were from Google through search field.

So, please, don't be racist against Bing, if it will help make Opera better, it will be good for us all
+1
Who knows Microsoft is changing? A web standards richer Internet Explorer is coming... 9
Maybe they'll make their pages work in Opera so people could use it and it works and these people would use Bing sometimes?
Charles SchlossThursday, June 17, 2010 5:12:29 PM
Originally posted by rafaelluik:

Who knows Microsoft is changing? A web standards richer Internet Explorer is coming... 9

Yep IE 8 was the first version to use web standards by default, it has a compatibility view mode with over 3000 pages listed in it as of 6/4/10for sites that break in IE 8 standards mode

Windows Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View List

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b885e621-91b7-432d-8175-a745b87d2588&displaylang=en (a .xls file)
Rafael LuikThursday, June 17, 2010 6:14:28 PM
Originally posted by coolmyll:

Will we see suggestions on bing and google? Why only wikipedia?
This is a beta, everyone expect to see suggestions functionality expanded in the final version, it's obvious it's going to happen.

Originally posted by johannes96:

Ahh i wish it would be yahoo as the default search engine?
Did you know Yahoo! search will die in the next months? Microsoft and Yahoo! signed a contract to unify their searches for at least 10 years: Yahoo! will be Bing powered.
davtaineThursday, June 17, 2010 6:31:06 PM
"Bing is just another option you can use"

Thank you but no thank you.
yjoThursday, June 17, 2010 6:58:42 PM
Jeez, how could you switch from Google to a closed platform search engine produced by a huge multinational corporation that uses financial incentives and their own browser to unfairly increase their market share? Oh, wait...
d4rkn1ghtThursday, June 17, 2010 7:20:54 PM
My default search engine is Scroogle, so this doesn't bother me.
AngelikiThursday, June 17, 2010 7:40:09 PM
the more options the better!

Originally posted by davtaine:

Thank you but no thank you.

why some members are negative about it? it is just an option Opera never forced anything on us, "and the price is right" always!