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Something I don't get about Search Engines...

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Paul Keith:
I'm not trying to create one since I don't know how aside from using custom search engine services but one thing I really don't get is how search engines get adapted.

At one point, I got that Google beat Yahoo because their engine was better and the design was simpler but at the same time, I don't get how tons of search engines like Clusty/Kart00/Pagebull (defunct)/etc. fail yet Microsoft releases a more Ajax-y Bing search engine and people eat it up as an alternative that's even more well known than Scroogle was.

I'd get it if this was purely Microsoft advertising but it's not. Blogosphere tend to advertise Bing more also. Is it because it's backed by a big company and hence predicted to be more stable?

It just hit me right now after using the greasemonkey script that enables Twitter results (above) Google search results quite awhile that there are things that Google hasn't built in and require scripts and yet no one seems to get the flash bulb lit up of just making a clone of Google but adding integrated scripts into the service.

Why is that?

I'm sure wikipedia isn't the only search engine that people would want up top when they're searching for something.

mouser:
i'm just thrilled that Paul wrote a short post, and i can understand it as well!

i don't really know the answer, but if i had to guess.. i would indeed guess that it was mostly about advertising dollars and the money behind the efforts that governs how well they scale and can be kept up to date.

sri:
Why should Google place twitter or wikipedia results above the regular search results?

Not everyone wants that. In fact I suspect that majority will be against this idea.

This is where browsers like Firefox with its infinite customization options in the form of add-ons and greasemonkey scripts come in. You can customize Google to add the features that you want.

rgdot:
What was that ex-google employee one that somehow managed to make it to mainstream TV news when it was launched last year? and to my knowledge it has fizzled...cuil
Some, even with substantial backing, just fail. It's not necessarily marketing or lack of budget but finding room for acceptance.
A slightly off topic example would be Yahoo's twitter equivalent, meme, it opened to the public very recently and I have seen less coverage for it than Apple bugs.

Paul Keith:
Why should Google place twitter or wikipedia results above the regular search results?

Not everyone wants that. In fact I suspect that majority will be against this idea.

This is where browsers like Firefox with its infinite customization options in the form of add-ons and greasemonkey scripts come in. You can customize Google to add the features that you want.
-sri (October 13, 2009, 09:38 PM)
--- End quote ---

Uuhhh...Google shows wikipedia links on top most of the time on their own. In fact you need a script in order to remove that.

The Twitter results work because the results don't interfere with the search results and as you said, you can disable it. (which could be implemented no differently than google's more options button if this were a separate service as opposed to a script)

@rgdot

What made Bing acceptable though? Yahoo meme isn't exactly a search engine and those kinds of services are more early bird-friendly.

@mouser

 ;D

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