Microsoft expands ad-free Bing search for schools

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Microsoft is expanding a program that
gives schools the ability to prevent ads from appearing in search
results when they use its Bing search engine. The program, launched in a
pilot program earlier this year, is now available to all U.S. schools,
public or private, from kindergarten through the 12th grade.
The
program is meant to create a safer online environment for children, but
also promote use of Bing, which trails market leader Google.
Microsoft
Corp. is also giving away a first-generation Surface tablet computer to
schools where community members sign up to use the ad-supported version
of Bing outside of the school.
The program is tailored so that 60
parents and friends who do 30 Bing searches a day can earn their school
a Surface in a little over a month. There is no limit on the number of
Surface devices a school can earn.
Microsoft has some unsold
inventory of the first generation Surface in stock after booking a large
write-down on the devices last year.
Matt Wallaert, a Microsoft
employee who created the "Bing in the Classroom" program, said the
company hopes that some of the program’s goodwill leads to more Bing
usage.
"We absolutely are an ad-supported business, but we think
that schools are not the time and place for that," he said. "Obviously
we hope that parents will hear that message and want to use Bing at
home."
Google Inc. doesn’t offer the same ad-free search experience for schools.
Microsoft
also has created some 500 lesson plans that encourage the use of search
to answer questions. The questions aren’t the kind that can be answered
by just typing them into the search field.
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