Blog: Colin White

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Is Google Losing Its Edge?

I seem to be reading more articles pointing out there are now much better options than using Google. If my experience is anything to go by I agree.

1. When evaluating search products for the enterprise, Google may have the mind share and the right price, but there seems to be universal agreement that Google search appliances don't approach the capabilities offered by Endeca, FAST and IBM. Why then are the BI vendors so pre-occupied with supporting Google? Perhaps they should be looking elsewhere.

2. I tried using Google's new blogging software, but it was the most bug-ridden and unusable piece of software I have come across in a long time. I sent bug reports to Google, but the reply said we read these, but don't guarantee to do anything about them.

3. I find more and more when researching the Web, Google may be okay for consumer products, but when it comes to technology research Ask.com is superior and more usable. Perhaps advertisers should be looking elsewhere as well.

4. I have been using Google desktop search for a while, but it bogs down system performance and keeps hanging my computers. I have continued to use it for searching Outlook files because it is so much better than what Microsoft offers. Ken Rudin of LucidEra suggested I try X1, which is a replacement for Yahoo desktop search. It was like a breath of fresh air! It was way faster. more reliable, easier to use, and more capable.

Google's bloated and buggy products seem to resemble those of its main competitor. What's your experience?

Posted by Colin White on Wednesday, 28 March 2007 | Permalink