Microsoft supremo Steve Ballmer downplayed the newly-launched Bing search engine saying that it was not going to be the main weapon that would challenge Google.

Ballmer said that the initial response to Bing has been "very good" Ballmer said, but it will not displace Google any time soon. He said he didn't want to overset expectations. Microsoft would have to be tenacious and keep up the pace of innovation over a long period of time, he said.

Microsoft may be successful, or it may not, but it was not going to go anywhere without being committed to changing things. Apparently you cant do that if you give up after six months, or a year or two years.

Bing uses algorithms and key words to provide results for online searches but has infused some semantic technology that deduces intended meanings of phrases, according to Microsoft.