A better internet search?
2004-07-14 10:32 - Web
I've recently switched primary search engines. I was of course a longtime user of Google like nearly everyone. Google is great, they're fast, and the interface is clean and attractive. Sure they have advertisements, but it's better the ads pay for a great search engine than I do. Google separates it's ads (paid) and regular results, which is a Good Thing™. But all good things must come to an end, and Google is going public.
Of course, I could be leaping to conclusions. But public companies have shareholders to please. Shareholders are pleased by profits. A lot of the things Google is good for exist because Google keeps the user as the priority, not the bottom line. I want to be prepared if Google gets a lot worse soon.
Enter Dogpile complete with cute fuzzy mascot, Arfie. So far, I'm rather pleased with Dogpile's searches. From their about page, With one single click, Dogpile fetches the best results from the combined pool of the best search engines -- instead of results from just one single search engine.
Metasearches are not new. According to metasearch.com's copyright notice, they've been doing it since 1995. Dogpile seems to work very well with an attractive interface, and so far I'm pleased with it.
I have only two concerns. First, and this is to be expected, it's slower than Google. It's got to do nearly ten times the work, so of course it takes a bit longer. The delay is nothing major. The bigger concern is the total lack of advertisements. Where are they making the money to pay for all of this? I've got to find out for sure how honest their results are. But the bottom line (wink) is if they let me find the information I want, then they're the search engine for me!
