Will There Ever Be a Search Engine Better Than Google?

[george]

Will There Ever Be a Search Engine Better Than Google?
BY JACOB MASLOW

Usually, when somebody comes up with an invention, the next people ask is, “Is there a better alternative?” That is how modern markets work. We are always looking for the next big thing. We are always looking for ‘bigger and better’.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the 800 pound gorilla of the global search market. It makes billions of dollars every year in advertising revenue. The temptation that one ...

Full story: http://www.streetwisejournal.com/will-ever-search-engine-better-google/6379/

[up-country_sinclair]

Interesting question.

Give me a minute to google it.

[RichCor]

I always love questions like this.

Who will be the next Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein, or Steve Jobs ... (or Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Coco Chanel, ... )

Who will be the next AOL, Microsoft, IBM, Xerox, Sony, Polaroid, AT&T, General Electric, Ford ...

I have been gobsmacked at the rise of Google. But something will surpass it. (Unless they suddenly rename the company to SkyNet)

[Guest]

I remember when Altavista was the one an trusted search engine and Yahoo provided hierarchical method to find what we were looking for. At the same time AOL provided it's own 'internet' to it's users. Major companies come and go.

I believe that Google will be challenged and eventually partly replaced at some point and I think it will be for all the wrong reasons (*). We are slowly, but steadily entering to the new era of internet wars. Internet will be separated to couple of major players own playgrounds. There will be less and less interaction between the sides.

At some point in the future, maybe within 5-10 years, Apple will offer it's own version of the internet. This includes own search engine, selected content providers and possibly own network hubs, which will make sure that the good content is delivered fast to the end user, while bad content will be slowed down. Google is already offering fiber connections and using r&d money to get to the other parts of the physical layer of the internet traffic.

China offers it's own version of the internet, with billion users. They might start to expand their network to other SEA countries at some point.

Google will still grow for some time, but it will get serious rivals in the 'near' future.

I think Microsoft is the big looser on this game, unless they finally figure out that they need partnership with some more innovation companies. Pushing Nokia to use WP and then buying them out was a horrible move. It's possible to buy people, but not so easy to buy their souls.

*) Resent article and indication of the slow separation: Green bubbles https://medium.com/message/its-kind-of-cheesy-being-green-2c72cc9e5eda

[NeverSure]

Someone would have to convince investors either through an IPO or other means. The money Google has in infrastructure is amazing.

Google has to locate server farms where there is excess electricity and lots of it. Not long ago they bid for the power from The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River about 90 miles East of Portland, Oregon. The dam is 50 years old and the leases for power expired. They outbid Portland General Electric and then they built a server farm there. It's one of many server farms.

I was lucky to get a tour of that farm because I have a relative who works there. It is mind boggling. It is a huge warehouse full of Unix servers. The topology is amazing to keep replicating, even among server farms, so there is no down time. If a server fails they can simply replace it in minutes while others do the work. It is seamless.

They also have huge cooling issues which either take fresh water or more electricity for cooling.

It's not just the infrastructure but the people and knowledge and all that goes with it. It would be a huge challenge to find the electricity, find the global locations, and set it up and that's just the hardware.

I don't think I'll live to see a true replacement. HERE are google image results for "google server farm."

[empireboy]

Can anyone name one business invention of even 50 years ago that has not been eclipsed today by a more improved/evolved version.. Of course Google can be knocked off!

[HidyHo]

I remember when Altavista was the one an trusted search engine and Yahoo provided hierarchical method to find what we were looking for. At the same time AOL provided it's own 'internet' to it's users. Major companies come and go.

Normally I would agree with this ... however, looking at past OS battle, when the dust settled, there was only one standing, Microsoft and they continue to dominate the OS market for PCs. They also won the business application market and we no longer use or talk about Lotus 123 or WordPerfect.

I think Google might be like Microsoft as search engine is fairly mature market at this point that was fought by various competitors.

[cpofc]

Never say never I guess, but Google seem to have everything going for them right now. They are the ones with all the money and resources. I am afraid they are going to be around for a long, long time. They have become an institution in their own right. They will take a lot of beating.

I go back to when Yahoo was the premier search engine. it was every web designers dream to get onto Yahoo. Every website was evaluated by a human in those days. There were no robots and crawlers like there are today I deeply studied SEO at this time. it took me 18 months to get my site listed on Yahoo. Then there was Excite. You could submit your site to Excite remotely. But you needed to do some study when it came to good SEO for this. Behind the scenes there was a mob no one really ever heard of and it was never advertised.. It was called 'Inkotomy' (spelling) you needed to get onto to this hidden list if you wanted a chance to get listed in the 'premier' Search Engines of the Day.

I was surprised when Google seemed to come from nowhere and virtually pushed all the others aside on it's stellar rise to the top.

Google has almost reached the stage, in the 'connected' world, where it is almost 'too big to fail'.

What worries me is that the internet is almost becoming 'owned' by just a few 'big boys', something it was never intended to be.

that's progress I guess.

[IMHO]

I remember when Altavista was the one an trusted search engine and Yahoo provided hierarchical method to find what we were looking for. At the same time AOL provided it's own 'internet' to it's users. Major companies come and go.

Normally I would agree with this ... however, looking at past OS battle, when the dust settled, there was only one standing, Microsoft and they continue to dominate the OS market for PCs.

ke? One OS? How is Windows going in the mobile or server space?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/13/whos-at-the-head-of-the-os-market-share-class-appl.aspx

Edited February 13, 2015 by IMHO

[HidyHo]

Normally I would agree with this ... however, looking at past OS battle, when the dust settled, there was only one standing, Microsoft and they continue to dominate the OS market for PCs.

ke? One OS? How is Windows going in the mobile or server space?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/13/whos-at-the-head-of-the-os-market-share-class-appl.aspx

Well, it's not going to be fair discussion/argument if you choose to ignore my "for PCs" part of the statement

It looks like Android is doing quite well in mobile space ... although there is no direct revenue stream for Google from the OS (as far as I know).

[NeverSure]

Can anyone name one business invention of even 50 years ago that has not been eclipsed today by a more improved/evolved version.. Of course Google can be knocked off!

Sure. There have been improvements, but often by the same companies that dominated then. The incandescent light bulb, the refrigerator, the internal combustion engine, the electric motor, the generator, the alternator, the carburetor...

Of course things improve but General Electric is bigger than ever. Ford Motor Company still builds the number 1 selling vehicle in America (the Ford F-150 pickup.) Ford has been building pickups for 100 years. Ford got in early, gained domination 100 years ago, and would be hard to knock off completely.

We can look all around at companies which gained domination in a field far more than 50 years ago and still hold it. Electric companies in general would be on that list.

Yes there are corporations that have been around since the 1800's that are still going strong.

[BKKdreaming]

OK....

and will anything take ebays place ?

or is it "too big to fail"

[quandow]

Google is ok for searching bubblegum topics IF you can have the patience to wade through their ever present ads. If I need a REAL answer, I go to the dark web. For instance, I had to reset the black toner cartridge on a Brother printer. Using run-of-the-mill Google, all I could find were web sites that wanted to SELL me new cartridges. Their focus is on getting you to spend money on their advertisers' web sites. A search on the dark web brought me right to a site that had instructions AND a video (I really need those videos!) on how to reset it, instead of having to pay about 300 baht for a new cartridge. BTW, my old one was still half full, planned obsolescence ya think?

[dddave]

Yes there are corporations that have been around since the 1800's that are still going strong.

In 1955, FORTUNE published it's first "500" list of the largest US corporations. As of 2014, 80% of those companies no longer exist. AT&T once was considered invulnerable and controlled more than 90% of the US telephone market....now subdivided and loosing more significance every day.

GOOGLE'S problem will probably be similar to what happened to AT&T...they will just get too big and ubiquitous which will make people fear and resent them, thus making it easier for governments, who never like to share power, to break them up.

It's already happening now in the EU.

[dddave]

Google is ok for searching bubblegum topics IF you can have the patience to wade through their ever present ads. If I need a REAL answer, I go to the dark web. For instance, I had to reset the black toner cartridge on a Brother printer. Using run-of-the-mill Google, all I could find were web sites that wanted to SELL me new cartridges. Their focus is on getting you to spend money on their advertisers' web sites. A search on the dark web brought me right to a site that had instructions AND a video (I really need those videos!) on how to reset it, instead of having to pay about 300 baht for a new cartridge. BTW, my old one was still half full, planned obsolescence ya think?

Interesting. I've never heard the term "Dark Web" before. Could you elaborate a bit more and maybe provide a few links?

[siampolee]

My missus seems to know about everything so my money is on her ousting Google from its throne.

[IMHO]

Normally I would agree with this ... however, looking at past OS battle, when the dust settled, there was only one standing, Microsoft and they continue to dominate the OS market for PCs.

ke? One OS? How is Windows going in the mobile or server space?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/13/whos-at-the-head-of-the-os-market-share-class-appl.aspx

Well, it's not going to be fair discussion/argument if you choose to ignore my "for PCs" part of the statement

It looks like Android is doing quite well in mobile space ... although there is no direct revenue stream for Google from the OS (as far as I know).

Indeed, sorry!.. but OTOH, talking about PC's only is a bit 1990's

As for Android and revenue - there are several ways that gets monetized: the obvious one is the play store of course, the less obvious ones are all the personal info and tracking data they are able to glean - which are inputs into everything from Google's advertising products, to it's map products.

[IMHO]

Google is ok for searching bubblegum topics IF you can have the patience to wade through their ever present ads. If I need a REAL answer, I go to the dark web. For instance, I had to reset the black toner cartridge on a Brother printer. Using run-of-the-mill Google, all I could find were web sites that wanted to SELL me new cartridges. Their focus is on getting you to spend money on their advertisers' web sites. A search on the dark web brought me right to a site that had instructions AND a video (I really need those videos!) on how to reset it, instead of having to pay about 300 baht for a new cartridge. BTW, my old one was still half full, planned obsolescence ya think?

errr... https://www.google.co.th/search?q=reset+the+black+toner+cartridge+on+a+Brother+printer&oq=reset+the+black+toner+cartridge+on+a+Brother+printer&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8

[quandow]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Google is ok for searching bubblegum topics IF you can have the patience to wade through their ever present ads. If I need a REAL answer, I go to the dark web. For instance, I had to reset the black toner cartridge on a Brother printer. Using run-of-the-mill Google, all I could find were web sites that wanted to SELL me new cartridges. Their focus is on getting you to spend money on their advertisers' web sites. A search on the dark web brought me right to a site that had instructions AND a video (I really need those videos!) on how to reset it, instead of having to pay about 300 baht for a new cartridge. BTW, my old one was still half full, planned obsolescence ya think?

errr... https://www.google.co.th/search?q=reset+the+black+toner+cartridge+on+a+Brother+printer&oq=reset+the+black+toner+cartridge+on+a+Brother+printer&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8

They didn't have my model, brother. Thanks, though.

[quandow]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Google is ok for searching bubblegum topics IF you can have the patience to wade through their ever present ads. If I need a REAL answer, I go to the dark web. For instance, I had to reset the black toner cartridge on a Brother printer. Using run-of-the-mill Google, all I could find were web sites that wanted to SELL me new cartridges. Their focus is on getting you to spend money on their advertisers' web sites. A search on the dark web brought me right to a site that had instructions AND a video (I really need those videos!) on how to reset it, instead of having to pay about 300 baht for a new cartridge. BTW, my old one was still half full, planned obsolescence ya think?

Interesting. I've never heard the term "Dark Web" before. Could you elaborate a bit more and maybe provide a few links?

Sorry, I meant "deep web." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Web

You also need the Tor browser: https://www.torproject.org/

[nithisa78]

Yes. at&t became VZ and visa v.

The world and the people in it, keep improving.

Nice day.

[nithisa78]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Google is ok for searching bubblegum topics IF you can have the patience to wade through their ever present ads. If I need a REAL answer, I go to the dark web. For instance, I had to reset the black toner cartridge on a Brother printer. Using run-of-the-mill Google, all I could find were web sites that wanted to SELL me new cartridges. Their focus is on getting you to spend money on their advertisers' web sites. A search on the dark web brought me right to a site that had instructions AND a video (I really need those videos!) on how to reset it, instead of having to pay about 300 baht for a new cartridge. BTW, my old one was still half full, planned obsolescence ya think?

Interesting. I've never heard the term "Dark Web" before. Could you elaborate a bit more and maybe provide a few links?

Sorry, I meant "deep web." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Web

You also need the Tor browser: https://www.torproject.org/

Thank you....very interesting.

[Bpuumike]

duckduckgo

[NeverSure]

OK....

and will anything take ebays place ?

or is it "too big to fail"

Not in our lifetimes. At one time yahoo had auctions but they didn't have as good a method. Ebay came along.

Now if you want to auction something, you want the most eyeballs on that item and ebay has them. If someone tried to start a new auction that would be the hurdle. How do they ever get more eyeballs and more bidders than ebay can provide without going bust first as yahoo auctions did? Yahoo shut down its auctions for lack of eyeballs.

[NeverSure]

Now streetwise journal (who ever heard of that?) has an article linked on TVF that says amazon is in the best position to knock off google.

55555555555555555555555555

Amazon has 40,000 servers and google probably has a million. LINK The reason the premise is ridiculous is that google has already established the worldwide presence and has locked down the locations and bought rights to the electricity to run a million servers. Amazon has nowhere to go to do that. Amazon has about 4% of the servers that google has and nowhere to put and power another million servers.

"Streetwise" focuses on something and I'm not sure what, but it never mentions physical infrastructure as if it didn't matter.

Just like more than 150 years ago when some railroads locked in the land and the routes and laid track and built their railroads, a new upstart would never find the land and buy all it needed to compete with existing railroads.

Sometimes the early bird really does catch the worm.

Sometimes the one who gets in early and locks up the resources leaves no room for upstarts.

[losworld]

Sadly the NSA and big brother may very well be google's ace in the hole. They won't allow Google to be eclipsed if they are providing data hand over fist.

Edited February 13, 2015 by losworld

[NeverSure]

Yes there are corporations that have been around since the 1800's that are still going strong.

In 1955, FORTUNE published it's first "500" list of the largest US corporations. As of 2014, 80% of those companies no longer exist. AT&T once was considered invulnerable and controlled more than 90% of the US telephone market....now subdivided and loosing more significance every day.

GOOGLE'S problem will probably be similar to what happened to AT&T...they will just get too big and ubiquitous which will make people fear and resent them, thus making it easier for governments, who never like to share power, to break them up.

It's already happening now in the EU.

AT&T is still the world's 38th largest corporation by revenue. Not just the USA, the world. LINK It branched into cell towers, smartphone service, internet, and it owns some of the biggest and most used fibre optic internet trunklines in the world from which many, many ISP's and others lease bandwidth.

It found the right of ways and built the largest trunkline up the West Coast of the USA and in many other places including some trans oceanic lines.

IMHO it is companies who don't own non-replaceable assets, and/or fail to adapt to technology who fall off the map.

This thread is about knocking off google. I see how it might be done technologically but I don't see how the late players to the game get the locations for infrastructure that google has when it's already taken, just like I don't see how a new transcontinental railroad could acquire the rights of way.

Edited February 13, 2015 by NeverSure

[rabid old goat]

I remember when Altavista was the one an trusted search engine and Yahoo provided hierarchical method to find what we were looking for. At the same time AOL provided it's own 'internet' to it's users. Major companies come and go.

Normally I would agree with this ... however, looking at past OS battle, when the dust settled, there was only one standing, Microsoft and they continue to dominate the OS market for PCs. They also won the business application market and we no longer use or talk about Lotus 123 or WordPerfect.

I think Google might be like Microsoft as search engine is fairly mature market at this point that was fought by various competitors.

PCs ? what are they.?

i think it is baidu from china that will win eventually https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baidu

when you have the population you will sooner or later have the dominance in this fast moving world

[IMHO]

Now streetwise journal (who ever heard of that?) has an article linked on TVF that says amazon is in the best position to knock off google.

55555555555555555555555555

Amazon has 40,000 servers and google probably has a million. LINK The reason the premise is ridiculous is that google has already established the worldwide presence and has locked down the locations and bought rights to the electricity to run a million servers. Amazon has nowhere to go to do that. Amazon has about 4% of the servers that google has and nowhere to put and power another million servers.

"Streetwise" focuses on something and I'm not sure what, but it never mentions physical infrastructure as if it didn't matter.

Just like more than 150 years ago when some railroads locked in the land and the routes and laid track and built their railroads, a new upstart would never find the land and buy all it needed to compete with existing railroads.

Sometimes the early bird really does catch the worm.

Sometimes the one who gets in early and locks up the resources leaves no room for upstarts.

You need to find a link with updated Amazon stats I think

As of December 2014, Amazon Web Services operated 1.4 Million servers across 28 availability zones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services

This story has estimates of them running up to 5.6 Million servers:

http://www.geek.com/chips/just-how-big-is-amazons-aws-business-hint-its-absolutely-massive-1610221/

Just at my work alone, we spin up 1,000 AWS boxes to run end of month reports.

Edited February 13, 2015 by IMHO

[IMHO]

Now streetwise journal (who ever heard of that?) has an article linked on TVF that says amazon is in the best position to knock off google.

55555555555555555555555555

Amazon has 40,000 servers and google probably has a million. LINK The reason the premise is ridiculous is that google has already established the worldwide presence and has locked down the locations and bought rights to the electricity to run a million servers. Amazon has nowhere to go to do that. Amazon has about 4% of the servers that google has and nowhere to put and power another million servers.

"Streetwise" focuses on something and I'm not sure what, but it never mentions physical infrastructure as if it didn't matter.

Just like more than 150 years ago when some railroads locked in the land and the routes and laid track and built their railroads, a new upstart would never find the land and buy all it needed to compete with existing railroads.

Sometimes the early bird really does catch the worm.

Sometimes the one who gets in early and locks up the resources leaves no room for upstarts.

You need to find a link with updated Amazon stats I think

As of December 2014, Amazon Web Services operated 1.4 Million servers across 28 availability zones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services

This story has estimates of them running up to 5.6 Million servers:

http://www.geek.com/chips/just-how-big-is-amazons-aws-business-hint-its-absolutely-massive-1610221/

Just at my work alone, we spin up 1,000 AWS boxes to run end of month reports.

...and our "measly" USD $50K/mth spend is only 10% of the billing needed for the first-level price break:

Under $500,000: 0% discount

$500,000 to $4,000,000: 5% discount

$4,000,000 to $10,000,000: 10% discount

over $10,000,000: Contact us

Of course, if you need to contact them, their advice is probably to buy shares

Edited February 13, 2015 by IMHO