Microsoft has a bit of a habit of scuppering its own chances of hitting the big leagues outside of the operating system space. The company knows it's on the back foot with its Edge browser and its Bing search engine, as tech giants like Google enjoy the lion's share of the market.

The thing is, Microsoft's services often have a really rocky start to begin with, then get better over time. Edge and Bing are no exception, with the former being a pretty disastrous browser until it adopted Chromium, and the latter being the butt of a search engine result relevancy meme that had it giving incorrect answers to whatever people were searching for.

Now, as Microsoft works away on improving its services, Edge and Bing are pretty good at what they do. However, Microsoft's methods to convert people over to its side are doing zero favors. And if it continues, people may never make the jump and see what they're missing out on, all because the Redmond giant has tried a heavy-handed approach with its users.

Bing is looking like a solid option right now...

Microsoft ticks a lot of boxes with its search engine

So, let's do a check-up. How's Bing doing these days? Well, if you were one of the people who used it on launch and never again (and I don't blame you), you may be surprised to discover that Bing is actually doing pretty well for itself. In fact, I'd argue that it's in a better position now than it ever was.

Granted, some of my argument is based on how Google has taken some nasty hits over the last few months. Remember when the internet giant stuck its AI Overview on its search and it became a laughing stock overnight? Yeah, Bing Search had already nailed AI search. And with people reporting that Google's search results haven't been as good as they once were, Bing has a real chance to grab some of Google's user base.

On top of all that, you can get points for using Bing which you can put towards gift cards or donating to a good cause. All in all, Bing deserves a second chance from people who tried it in the past and disliked it.

...but Microsoft's forceful hand puts people off

There are better first impressions you can make than trying to shove your product onto someone

So, why aren't people giving Bing a second chance? Well, there are likely a ton of different reasons why, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager it's because Microsoft won't stop annoying people with it.

If you use the Start menu to search for something online, it'll search in Bing (and in Edge, for that matter). If you use Edge and dare to use it to search in Chrome, it'll suggest that you use Bing instead. And if you use Microsoft's "recommended browsing settings," it'll set your defaults to Bing.

The real cherry on top happened last week, when Bing Wallpaper began suggesting that you used its search engine. And the email tipoff we got about the feature claimed that if you accept Bing Wallpaper's proposition, it will sideload the Bing extension into Chrome.

Microsoft needs to impress, not impose

People are far more likely to stick with something if they're not strong-armed into using it

See, Microsoft is no stranger to having a rough start. Some of its operating systems had a nasty start before eventually building its reputation up among users and becoming a favorite. The problem is that the company will not clear a service's bad name by imposing it upon people.

If Microsoft really wants to get people over to Bing, it needs to make it shine. It's already showing everyone how AI-powered search can be done, and it can show off how Bing squares up against competition and where it excels.

However, having a wallpaper app ask users to use Bing instead of Google is not doing Microsoft any favors. The more you try to force a user to use a service over their favored one, the less they want to use it. And with Google showing weakness, Microsoft cannot afford to let this opportunity slip past it.

Bing is a good service - just let people discover it for themselves

If Microsoft wants Bing to be taken seriously, it really needs to quit with the pestering. Every time someone is irked by a pop-up asking them to make the swap, it re-ignites their desire to swear off of the service. Instead, Microsoft could be using that effort and energy to make Bing a fantastic search engine that does what people want. In fact, some may argue that it already has done that. It just needs to allow people to organically discover and use Bing instead of being dragged to it.