Wednesday, Jun 3, 2009    Text size: 

Microsoft's search engine has been getting mixed reviews since its launch this week, with some tech pundits said it has a confusing interface, while others praise what they call speedy, accurate results.

But its video search holds some of its greatest appeal. Users who search for videos can look up any number of adult search strings, provided they deactivate a "safe search" feature.

Best of all, though, is the option to preview videos on the Bing search results page without even clicking the mouse. Users can play videos simply by mousing over them.

Naturally, this unexpected option has drawn fire because of its potential for trouble. Tech analyst Loic Le Meur noted on his blog that the video search function makes Bing as flexible and competitive as the most robust porn search engines.

"You are now on a porn site without leaving Bing," he wrote. "Amazing."

Other critics haven't been so kind, such as InternetSafety.com CEO Forrest Collier.

With adult-content filters turned off, "Bing.com does at this point allow users to watch pornographic videos without ever leaving the site," he said.