Microsoft has quietly killed off its spoofed Google UI that it was utilizing to trick Bing customers into considering they have been utilizing Google. Earlier this month you might seek for “Google” on Bing and get a web page that appeared rather a lot like Google, full with a particular search bar, a picture resembling a Google Doodle, and even some small textual content below the search bar similar to Google search.
The deceptive UI not seems on the Google search results of Bing this week, simply days after it was initially found by posters on Reddit. Microsoft’s spoofed Google UI even routinely scrolled down the web page barely to masks its personal Bing search bar that seem on the prime of search outcomes, in a blatant try and trick Bing customers into considering they have been on Google.
Microsoft refused to touch upon its pretend Google UI, however Google was very happy to supply up its opinion. “Imitation is the sincerest type of flattery, however Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is one other tactic in its lengthy historical past of methods to confuse customers & restrict selection,” stated Google Chrome boss Parisa Tabriz in a publish on X final week. “New yr; new low Microsoft.”
Microsoft has a behavior of utilizing quite a lot of methods to persuade folks to maintain utilizing the defaults of Bing and Microsoft Edge in Home windows, together with modifying Chrome obtain websites and utilizing malware-like popups to get folks to ditch Google. Microsoft has even beforehand needed to reverse pop-up advertisements inside Google Chrome to deal with “unintended habits.”
