Re: <nettime> search engines on the move

[Juergen Fenn <juergen.fenn@GMX.DE>]

Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@yahoo.com> writes:

> Unrelatedl, I recently made a few hours worth of survey of alternatives to
> google (I looked at about dozen, colleced from "X top non-google search
> engines" around the 'net.)
>
> There are really none.
>
> The only real problem with google is monopoly, and the only resulting real fear
> is that google may be biasing search results. I couldn't care less about
> parasitical ad or SEO industry, I'm interested only in search results.
>
> What do alternatives do to alleviate this fear?

Well, the point about Google is not only about monopoly, but also
about web culture in the broadest meaning of the term.

The way we use Google today, Google determines the way we perceive the
web. Googling has already become a synonym for using or for surfing
the web. And that's the point because there's something going wrong
here.

The solution, however, to my mind is not "improving" search engine
technology, but rather developing something completely different. We
have had the web catalogue such as Yahoo or DMOZ and the search engine
so far. What could replace these tools in the future that have clearly
proved insufficient?

What we need is a new paradigma providing orientation for web
users. I don't know either what this could be, but is is clearly
not a different or another search engine, so what we need is not an
alternative to Google.

Google itself already is obsolete. It it were not, we would not think
about alternatives, would we?

Regards,
Jürgen.




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