Microsoft Loses Clip Art, Sends Users to Bing Image Search

We suppose everyone who has created a flyer or PowerPoint presentation has probably used Microsoft's library or clip art or stock images. Well, as of this week, those days are gone. Now Microsoft is sending users to Bing Image Search to find Creative Commons licenses for "free" images.

Bing's copyright filter will pop up those images with licenses for most uses. "A link to the source of the image is provided, which you should use to review the source of the image and the applicable license to determine whether your use will comply with the license," Doug Thomas from Microsoft's Office 365 Team wrote in a blog post. "However, you are responsible for respecting others' rights, including copyright."

That's the rub. Creative Commons licenses are complicated. Some offer basically all uses, others restrict use to attribution, others don't allow any changes made to the images. Others aren't for commercial use, and some are mislabeled. Basically, it won't be as easy as searching Microsoft's image library for appropriate clip art or photos.

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