If microsoft and yahoo are much worse than google, then they have 101 problems. If they are roughly as good, then they have 1 problem: Pushing it forward one bit more.
Anyway, I actually use different engines now and then, and for the most part they're all the same. For complicated/obscure stuff, google is still considerably better. For mom and pop I'm not sure that matters though.
Google's clearest advantage is its unbelievable speed, which is great for news/current topics. A test, here's a string that doesn't return results in google: conquistador monkey bakery laughter confusion fear hatred love citizen kane mantra manhatten mongrel montell carebear
(Yes I had to string together that many words. Carebear broke the fucker's back.)
Anyway, I'll check back and see how long it takes the various engines to pick it up. Google will be first. I predict about 30 minutes. It's 10:50 right now.
ED: 11:00 nothing; 11.11 nothing; 11:35 nothing (looks like my prediction was wrong); 12:31 nothing. Things are going horribly awry.
Hacker News | If microsoft and yahoo are much worse than google ...
... doesn't return results in google: conquistador monkey bakery laughter confusion fear hatred love citizen kane mantra manhatten mongrel montell carebear ...
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=750236 - 10 hours ago - Similar -
Just now, ["search engine do you choose in the blind test"] does show this HN item, about place 16, as of "5 hours ago". So maybe you just missed out because it made its first visit before your comment.
Anyway, I actually use different engines now and then, and for the most part they're all the same. For complicated/obscure stuff, google is still considerably better. For mom and pop I'm not sure that matters though.
Google's clearest advantage is its unbelievable speed, which is great for news/current topics. A test, here's a string that doesn't return results in google: conquistador monkey bakery laughter confusion fear hatred love citizen kane mantra manhatten mongrel montell carebear
(Yes I had to string together that many words. Carebear broke the fucker's back.)
Anyway, I'll check back and see how long it takes the various engines to pick it up. Google will be first. I predict about 30 minutes. It's 10:50 right now.
ED: 11:00 nothing; 11.11 nothing; 11:35 nothing (looks like my prediction was wrong); 12:31 nothing. Things are going horribly awry.