Cuil.com, a Google search competitor, launched today, July 28, 2008 and I’m happy for it.ย But, they’ve got a long way to go to unseat Google as the search king.
They claim to rank content rather than popularity (number of incoming links to a web site). Unfortunately, that type of understanding programmed into software is a long way off.
A simple search for “carte orange”, the Paris public transportation pass, returns a lot of weak results on Cuil:
http://www.cuil.com/search?q=carte%20orange&sl=long
Whereas on Google, the majority on spot on for finding good in-depth information on the correct subject:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=carte+orange&btnG=Google+Search
Cuil has some nice features though: pictures in search results, category refinement (search within search results by clicking on a category), and instant search suggestions which are already quite good.
Google has gotten lonely up at the top.ย It’s nice that Cuil may give them some competition.
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