Why Yahoo, not Google, should drive your search -- chicagotribune.comAll old news but rereading all of this made me switch. At least at home. I have my built-in search box point to Yahoo instead of Google now. I really haven't noticed much difference other than having to get used to a slightly different interface. The results are very similar and I certainly haven't noticed any glaring gaps or errors that Google wouldn't have done. Actually, it's surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) similar in terms of results and layout.
Also, being the de facto graphic designer in my library, I'm constantly looking through Google images (and now Yahoo images) for raw material, ideas, inspirations, and comparisons, and the most important thing I've learned from switching is that these tools even more than the regular web page searching really don't overlap very much. If you're looking for something rather specific and you want as much as you can find, try both, try several.
The only reason everyone is so enamoured with Google is the simple first page and the fact that everyone is talking about it. Word of mouth and visual laziness. Don't get me wrong... it's a great search engine. But there are plenty of great search engines out there, and turning Google into the verb like we have is cutting us off from thinking as quickly about the other options. Although their motto is "Do no evil", no monopoly is ever really good for the consumer. Do yourself (and the rest of society) a favour and shop around, explore, and try other search engines.
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