To be fair, the search space was much smaller before Google. Also, I kept using Altavista for quite a while before finally switching over to Google as my default search, changing only because google is infinitely better on technical searches.
Now, I use Ask for non-technical searches and google for technical ones -- I'm really starting to like ask, but it doesn't prioritize technical searches like Google.
I used Altavista, then HotBot, then Google. I remember reading a Time Magazine article in 1998 about the "new wave" of search engines; it featured Google pretty prominently, and I switched not long after that.
Google's results were very much better than everything else, by a much greater margin than they are today. Before Google, the cliche that every search returns porn was actually pretty true.
Ditto, I found Google in about 1998, from a multi-engine search site and noticed it was coming up with all the good stuff. I must have been one of the first people to use it (at the time).
Additional note that most other search engines were a test of pain before Google came along.
Now, I use Ask for non-technical searches and google for technical ones -- I'm really starting to like ask, but it doesn't prioritize technical searches like Google.