Microsoft launches 'Bing in the Classroom' program to provide ad-free search for schools

Himanshu Arora

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In an effort to expand the reach of Bing, Microsoft has launched an ad-free, customized version of its search engine for use within schools, according to Wall Street Journal. Dubbed Bing in the Classroom, the program exited the pilot stage today, and is now available to all eligible K-12 schools in the United States. The program was previously known as Bing for Schools.

microsoft bing classroom

The pilot program took place in five of the largest US public school districts, and has since grown to include 4.5 million children in over 5,000 schools. Teachers from across the country have acknowledged that the program is enhancing the classroom environment and improving children's abilities to learn digital literacy skills.

The software giant estimates that every year more than 15 billion search ads are shown to students while they're in school. But with the tailored version of its search engine, students just see online resources.

"We created Bing in the Classroom because we believe students deserve a search environment tailored for learning. Classrooms should be ad-free, and that should be as true online as it is offline", said Matt Wallaert, creator of the program.

In addition to being ad-free, the customized version of the Bing search engine also provides enhanced privacy controls, allowing teachers to create filters to block adult content and ad targeting. The program also adds specialized learning features to promote digital literacy in the classroom.

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How about a completely ad free search engine for everyone? I could go for that.

Would you pay for it?
As long as MS is packaging everything within the purchase price of their OS, no I would not pay extra for a service that is already paid for.

Besides what is the difference in having Bing search box in the toolbar of a blank page, and having a ad free Bing search page?

"We created Bing in the Classroom because we believe students deserve a search environment tailored for learning. Classrooms should be ad-free, and that should be as true online as it is offline", said Matt Wallaert, creator of the program.
We all deserve an environment free from Ads. We all know what it is we want to see. We don't need to see a bunch of **** someone wants to sell us. It only serves to clutter up our experience and is ignored in the process.
 
As long as MS is packaging everything within the purchase price of their OS, no I would not pay extra for a service that is already paid for.

Besides what is the difference in having Bing search box in the toolbar of a blank page, and having a ad free Bing search page?

Not sure what you mean by packaging everything into the OS price. Is Bing somehow included in that?

Also, your second question makes no sense. Obviously this is for search results, where ads are actually displayed, not for home pages. Even the Bing home page doesn't display any ads that I'm aware of.
 
Not sure what you mean by packaging everything into the OS price. Is Bing somehow included in that?

Also, your second question makes no sense.
Don't pay any attention to me on this one. I'm just ranting over the idea of paying more when there is so much **** packaged in Windows install that I will never use. It gives me the impression I'm not getting my moneys worth because I paid for things I don't use. And then the thought of paying more to remove anything annoying is too much. Whats next paying to have features removed, such as WMP?
 
Not sure what you mean by packaging everything into the OS price. Is Bing somehow included in that?

Also, your second question makes no sense.
Don't pay any attention to me on this one. I'm just ranting over the idea of paying more when there is so much **** packaged in Windows install that I will never use. It gives me the impression I'm not getting my moneys worth because I paid for things I don't use. And then the thought of paying more to remove anything annoying is too much. Whats next paying to have features removed, such as WMP?

Not just that but saying ONLY students get to have an ad free environment when your search results include ads is the most stupidest thing you could ever do...

Microsoft is trying to increase their market share plain and simple its not about doing the right thing for microsoft...
 
As long as MS is packaging everything within the purchase price of their OS, no I would not pay extra for a service that is already paid for.

Besides what is the difference in having Bing search box in the toolbar of a blank page, and having a ad free Bing search page?

We all deserve an environment free from Ads. We all know what it is we want to see. We don't need to see a bunch of **** someone wants to sell us. It only serves to clutter up our experience and is ignored in the process.
I hate ad's being shoved in my face as much as the next person but they are an evil necessity in some instances like keeping TechSpot free for us to enjoy but I don't want to be constantly distracted by irrelevant and uninteresting ad's hence I use an ad blocker. It works like a charm. As for conglomerates like MS, they make more than enough money and I won't pay them or their type a penny more than I have to.
 
I actually don't mind, or some times even notice the ad's on Bing results. I've been using Bing as my primay search engine for about 2 months. Yes it has ad's, but MSFT kind of sneaks it in an a less obnoxious manner, as it's surrounded by larger info boxes that contain relevant content and non-advertisement information. So while you do have a small ad, the related search box & information box is way larger than the ad.
 
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