When Microsoft first announced Bing, it touted the fact that it is no a regular search engine. The company insisted Bing is a decision engine – because you know, it helps the user make a decision, not just search for stuff. As the winter holiday season is upon us, Bing wants to live up to that philosophy and would like to make the decision process a lot easier for the user.

“Holiday season is in full swing. And what a great time of year it is - the snow is flying, people are heading out on vacation to spend time with family and friends, and everyone’s got some last minute things to do. At Bing, our goal is to make your life a little easier no matter what the task or decision, and we recently launched some new richer, enhanced search results that can help you do just that,” commented Group Product Manager with Bing, Todd Schwartz.

The "new richer, enhanced search results" that Schwartz mentioned above are:

• Visual Search Page

Launched this September, the Visual Search feature presents 230 travel destinations to the Bing user. Click any destination and you will be presented with tons of details about it. According to Schwartz, the Bing team tried to understand what the Bing user wants to find when searching for a travel destination, hence they grouped the info to be “more helpful and relevant.”

• Weather Results Page

During the holidays a lot of people travel – they go on vacation, visit relatives, and so on. It is thus important to know what the weather is like. Bing has a new weather results page that displays current and extended forecasts from multiple providers. With info like the average monthly temperature and the weather forecast for New Years, Bing will help users decide what to wear this winter.

“What makes this page unique, and the weather decision so easy, is that Bing provides multiple providers so you save time comparing forecasts without having to search all around the web. Even better, Bing ranks them based on historical accuracy, to help you get the best results possible,” explained Todd Schwartz.

• Movie Results Page

Bing also helps you decide what movies to watch this holiday season. The movie results page displays useful info such as: the movie trailer, ratings, reviews, a nearby theatre where you could watch that movie.

• Investor Data Results Page

Bing’s new investor data results page will come in handy when you want to check your portfolio or see how your stock/fund is doing – something you might want to do as the end of the year gets closer and closer. This new results page displays a graph which encompasses the following: stock/fund performance, key investor data, news and insights to help you decide to buy or sell before the New Year.