After only a couple of weeks since its debut and a mult-imillion dollar prime-time ad campaign it seems clear that Microsoft's new Bing.com search engine is gaining some serious traction with the latest online search stats, well that is according to the numbers just in from ComScore's VP Mike Hurt.

Microsoft's share in 'search' has gone from 9.1 percent to 11.1 percent, not exactly an earth shattering gain, but in a five day period it is moving in the right direction for the Redland based behemoth.

I'm sure that Bing's 'newness' is a factor with the increased curiosity and no doubt users are intrigued by the new three column layout, but in terms of search results Google still brings up way more answers. Either way, it will no doubt cause some stirring with online advertisers and it will certainly prod Yahoo, the world's number two search tool, to perhaps pay a bit more attention.

The reality is that Google is so familiar to most internet users that unless it falls off the earth some time soon, it is unlikely to be dethroned as the defacto go-to search engine, no matter how much the competition try to spruce up their respective sites. The fact is, Google is simple and straight forward to use and users are familiar with the flush left 'craigslistesque' minimalism of it's layout. It just works.

Microsoft's stock closed up slightly today at $22.08 per share. Google meanwhile closed down $3.15 or 0.72 percent at $435.62.