FORTUNE - Since Microsoft released the Bing search engine in 2009, it has struggled to compete with Google. Most reviewers, and more importantly, most users, have consistently said that on average Google delivers superior results. While Bing's market share in the U.S. has nearly doubled to 15.4%, according to comScore, the gains gains have largely been at the expense of Yahoo (YHOO). Google's own share has risen by about 3 percentage points to 66.7%. Now following a new set of technical improvements, Microsoft (MSFT) is trying, once again, to change perceptions and break what it calls the "Google habit." On Thursday, it announced a "Bing It On" challenge that will encourage users to conduct blind comparison tests between the two search engines after research by an independent firm showed that users on average prefer Bing.
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