Microsoft has continued to live up to its reputation, in this case in a way similar to how people expect its operating systems to be prone to virus attacks.

To my knowledge, this information is a world exclusive and you’re hearing it here first!

(I used to be a newspaper reporter for six years and assistant managing editor for four, so getting the scoop has been ingrained in my psyche.)

You know how Microsoft just re-engineered its distant third-place search engine, “Bing”?

If you have your own products or services, you’ve probably put considerable effort into naming them before you release them.

And you appreciate how important that name is.

First of all, what does “Bing” make you think of?

When I first heard of it, I thought, “Bing Crosby? Bing cherries? It’s not a very attractive name.”

The thing is, it is memorable.

Maybe Steve Ballmer and company knew they needed something memorable because the online world had forgotten Microsoft even had a search engine… except for something like 7% of online users.

Just a little piece of advice if you’re planning on making a big launch, or even a small one… you might want to do a careful search of what your *proposed* name means in other languages.

Before you spend millions upon millions of dollars to get as many people as possible to know what that name is.

Particularly if you did not do that process and you end up looking extremely foolish because of this huge oversight, and blunder!

So what did some of the brightest minds and most successful marketers out there anywhere miss?

First of all, people have been talking for years about how China is the emerging global force and we’re all going to need to learn Chinese to reach its billion-plus market and exponentially grow our businesses.

It’s an important culture. It’s an important country. It’s an important economy. And the Chinese language is important.

Especially -BEFORE- you go name your search engine after the Chinese word for *disease*!!!!

(No, I am not kidding, in fact.)

Ever since Microsoft announced it was going to rename its search engine Bing, millions of Chinese-speaking people probably had a big laugh. And maybe it was even a source of great humor for them.

Or maybe they thought, “WTF?”

Now you’re in on the “joke”, too. Except I’m guessing Microsoft won’t think it’s very funny.

Now that the damage is done and they’ve named their search engine, “Disease” -

(No jokes, please, about how fitting that is considering how vulnerable Windows has always been to diseases, requiring everyone to buy anti-virus programs to protect their computers.)

- What’s the “ill” search engine to do?

Change it’s name again? That would be a PR disaster.

Maybe they’re just hoping no one finds out about the ‘Big Bad Bing Blunder” (if Microsoft is even aware of it!)

And they’re just biding their time until the deal with the No. 2 search engine goes through and Yahoo cures “the Disease”.

It won’t be long after that until the world forgets….. and people go back to their daily routine of cursing Windows and looking forward to Google’s operating system arriving.

(Actually, I’m joking about that. I use Vista, and I like it.)

Dan Klatt is president of the Internet Marketing Organization and founder of the CarnegieCentre, which empowers people to Think and Grow Rich.

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