Comments on: Opinion: Cuil, Google, and Microsoft http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/07/28/opinion-cuil-google-and-microsoft/ by Stephen E. Arnold Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:48:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Velvet Blues http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/07/28/opinion-cuil-google-and-microsoft/comment-page-1/#comment-18481 Velvet Blues Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:31:47 +0000 http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/?p=1140#comment-18481 Yeh, Cuil doesn't get it. It also appears that Cuil has not heard or Wikipedia or other resource sites. Type in 'America' and see what you get. In Google, you get a map, and a page on America from Wikipedia, followed by other popular results. In Cuil, you get results for AOL and Air Conditioning Contractors of America... Good job. Clearly Google is more relevant. And yes, Cuil doesn't have any special search features. I think they assume that users just want to retrieve pages containing a search term. But that's only half of it. Users also like when search engines can discern their intent. And that's what Google, Yahoo, and the other big search engines are able to do. Yeh, Cuil doesn’t get it. It also appears that Cuil has not heard or Wikipedia or other resource sites. Type in ‘America’ and see what you get.

In Google, you get a map, and a page on America from Wikipedia, followed by other popular results.

In Cuil, you get results for AOL and Air Conditioning Contractors of America… Good job.

Clearly Google is more relevant. And yes, Cuil doesn’t have any special search features. I think they assume that users just want to retrieve pages containing a search term. But that’s only half of it. Users also like when search engines can discern their intent. And that’s what Google, Yahoo, and the other big search engines are able to do.

]]> By: Seth Grimes http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/07/28/opinion-cuil-google-and-microsoft/comment-page-1/#comment-18458 Seth Grimes Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:33:47 +0000 http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/?p=1140#comment-18458 Oh, and if you want "Beyond Google," try Google.com. Type in, for instance, 22+33 or "map cincinnati" or "time london"... and you'll get answers. Same for Yahoo and Live search. Cuil, by contrast, seems to have no conception of the searchers intent, that is, to look for answers to common, *recognizable* questions rather than for hits. Seth Oh, and if you want “Beyond Google,” try Google.com.

Type in, for instance, 22+33 or “map cincinnati” or “time london”… and you’ll get answers. Same for Yahoo and Live search. Cuil, by contrast, seems to have no conception of the searchers intent, that is, to look for answers to common, *recognizable* questions rather than for hits.

Seth

]]> By: Seth Grimes http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/07/28/opinion-cuil-google-and-microsoft/comment-page-1/#comment-18457 Seth Grimes Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:29:54 +0000 http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/?p=1140#comment-18457 Stephen, don't get caught up in the hype. Try Cuil. Perhaps, you'll find, as I did, that the results suck. I'm talking about the waste-of-space presentation, the listing of highly redundant hits without any form of similarity reduction, *the seemingly random pairing of found images with result items*, and more. Myself, I tried it at 5 am so I didn't experience the very slow response that others have experienced. Cuil was a major mis-launch. Will the company right itself? There are too many short-comings to be confident of that. Seth Stephen, don’t get caught up in the hype. Try Cuil. Perhaps, you’ll find, as I did, that the results suck. I’m talking about the waste-of-space presentation, the listing of highly redundant hits without any form of similarity reduction, *the seemingly random pairing of found images with result items*, and more. Myself, I tried it at 5 am so I didn’t experience the very slow response that others have experienced.

Cuil was a major mis-launch. Will the company right itself? There are too many short-comings to be confident of that.

Seth

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