Google has become such a staple to so many that it’s hard to imagine what we all did before it existed. A recent op edby reporter Dan Sabbagh writing for the Times Online takes a look at how the search engine’s grip may be slipping. Here’s a quick excerpt:
“Google is emphatic that the integrity of its search will be unaffected, and certainly there is no dramatic change, even though the company has invested $1 billion in a content business such as AOL. But the impression created – and beyond a bald press release, there is little detail publicly available – is that Google will work more closely with big internet companies, while the small ones have to fend for themselves.”
Sabbagh also suggests that switching to Microsoft may be one way consumers can prevent the search engine from becoming too powerful:
“Perhaps I have just googled too much in my time, but after five years of heavy use, it feels like time to try something different…like MSN Search…Switching from Google to Microsoft, the owner of MSN Search, may not be the obvious way to conduct the next rebellion, but it is tempting to do it, to make a tiny pinprick of a point.”
Overall this editorial is an interesting read, though it’s a little odd that the author makes no mention of Yahoo, one of the most obvious Google competitors.
More discussion here on Threadwatch.
