Google Has Dumbed Down Search... Isn't That A Good Thing?

from the straw-men... dept

It's no surprise that the folks at Autonomy may be feeling a little neglected by the press lately, as all of the "search" hype focuses on Google, Yahoo and others. Autonomy always was much more focused on enterprise and corporate uses of search and data mining technologies. However, to say it's "unfortunate" that Google has "dumbed down" search is being controversial just for the sake of being controversial. Google (and others') "dumbing down" of search is part of what made search so successful. While the guy complains about people punching in a couple of keywords, it's that simplicity that has made search so valuable. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for more advanced search, but it's not "unfortunate" at all that Google has made it so much easier and effective. His other claim is that Google may run into trouble because search is becoming a commodity. Perhaps he hasn't been looking lately, but Google seems to be working pretty hard to make it clear they're an ad network built on the core of their search capabilities, rather than "a search company."
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  • identicon
    google is not effective it is popular - note diffe, 19 Sep 2005 @ 5:09pm

    No Subject Given

    "so much easier and effective"
    easier yes, effective, no. It is very easy to get bad/useless/popular/wrong/outdated information quickly with google

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Rikko, 19 Sep 2005 @ 5:11pm

    Crybaby?

    I didn't really get anything more out of that article than a bitter developer with poor understanding of HCI sulking because Google won.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anons Anonymous, 19 Sep 2005 @ 6:09pm

    "Penguin"...

    What idiot would only type in the word "penguin" if they are searching for something more specific?

    RIGHT...

    This clown uses a hypthetical example of people searching for oil pollution effects on penguins (or whatever) and he actually thinks they are typing in only "penguin" and then clicking through "hundreds" or even "thousands" of google results until they hit upon what they want...

    What a load of crapola.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mousky, 19 Sep 2005 @ 6:54pm

    Mr. Lynch is being dumb

    Mr. Lynch is the one that has dumbed down searching on Google. If someone is looking for something as specific as the effect of oil pollution on the penguin population of Alaska, they will likely enter the words 'oil pollution penguin alaska'. Entering those terms into Google will bring up several relevant results. Who is the one being dumb, Mr. Lynch?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Keenster, 19 Sep 2005 @ 7:50pm

    What a duche bag

    what a duche bag. If you actually google "effect of oil pollution on the penguin population of Alaska" you get exactally when your looking for!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2005 @ 9:14pm

    Alaskan Penguins?

    That must be some search engine...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    amber, 19 Sep 2005 @ 11:05pm

    good

    I have been using Google since many days.....and it is simply great. Yes sometimes it does deliver crap....but most of the times it is great.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2005 @ 11:46pm

    No Subject Given

    Lynch said users are still doing too much legwork for Google, searching with simple terms and then clicking through the hundreds or thousands of results returned looking for the content which best matches their needs.

    No, that's what used to happen, with old search engines. Google is so good at guessing what you want, you tend not to do that any more.

    That's not dumbing down, that's dumbing up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Alastair Stevens, 20 Sep 2005 @ 12:14am

    Autonomy ... ugh!

    I shiver when I read about Automony - I worked for them earlier this year. What an appalling, ruthless sweatshop of a company. They're infamous for their evil working practices around Cambridge (UK), and I write this as a warning to anyone who thinks of going near them!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    DGK12, 20 Sep 2005 @ 12:25am

    No Subject Given

    If we want to get into technicalities...

    If he took time to try Google. The first page of results for the word "penguin" offers up http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/penguins/main.html. Follow the "Habitats of Penguins" link to discover the appalling facts.

    Google also offers advanced search capabilities. You just have to have (A.) The need for those capabilities, and (B.) A little motivation to find out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Andy, 20 Sep 2005 @ 4:27am

    No Subject Given

    (a) Penguins don't live in Alaska.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2005 @ 8:21pm

    No Subject Given

    We use Autonomy at work. It's not very good. I wish we had Google.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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