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by skilled 997 days ago
> 2 hr wait

> Creating new images can take time

> Because you're out of boosts, image generation may take longer than usual.

Just how much money is Microsoft burning up by offering all these features?

I mean, last time I checked[0] - being this generous didn't really do anything for Bing, did it?

Is this "just because we can" or is it genuinely profitable for them?

[0]: https://searchengineland.com/new-bing-google-market-share-si...

5 comments

The really big dogs always work with long term, strategic plans. When something looks too generous, it most likely is just that. Is it profitable? Probably not. But that is the point. Offer a service under market value, wait until the competition goes away, then make bank. There are many, many examples, but something like Google Workspace comes to mind. Make it easy and cheap to get on board, get people and businesses used to your product, then slowly boil the frog alive.
The more charitable interpretation is that companies sometimes explore new markets with a “see where people find value, figure out how to monetize later” philosophy.
At these meetings both interpretations motivate agreement but neither is mentioned.
I’ve been in a lot of those meetings where “we don’t know what users will find value in, get it into their hands and see” has been very explicit.
> Offer a service under market value, wait until the competition goes away

It feels like this doesn’t work as well with a lot of software services as it does with physical brick and mortar businesses.

A million dollars in 4 years, that's pretty crazy. Good for them.
So those GPUs are thirsty...

It would look pretty bad if it comes out these models are exacerbating climate change...especially after all of old Bill's climate rhetoric and everyone bashing crypto for the last 5+ years about the same thing.

> especially after all of old Bill's climate rhetoric and everyone bashing crypto for the last 5+ years about the same thing.

Gates hasn't been leading MS for a long time now.

I guess this also creates valuable learning material, when people iterate through different prompts to get the results they want and seeing which alternative they pick.
Maybe it’s a sales tool for business adoption of Bing, that they’re applying to consumers? And they need the traffic and usage numbers, if they get those their advertising business can sit on top of it and profit.
I have no idea if it's making them money, but a year ago I never heard anyone say the name "Bing" and now I'm hearing it several times a day.
For most people Bing is the thing you search for Google in.

Same as Edge is the thing you install Chrome with.

No amount of marketing or features will take these corpses and get them walking again.