Over the last six days, the blog Google Operating Sytem (which is not affiliated with Google) did a sort of blind taste test among Google, Yahoo, and Windows Live. It challenged readers to search on a topic of interest and vote on which result(s) were the best, not knowing which search engine generated them.
It's admittedly unscientific—anyone could have looked at the site's HTML to see which results were which—but interesting nonetheless. Out of 2008 votes, Google was the winner, but not by the wide margin you might expect. Google garnered 51% of the votes, with Windows Live next at
35% and Yahoo with 30%. The blog says that the percentages held roughtly the same each day of the poll. (By comparison, Google captured 54% of the search market in August 2007, according to Nielsen NetRatings, with Yahoo second at 20% and Microsoft with 13%.)
The poll may say something about the search engines, but the terms poll-takers used says something about them: Google, test, directoryEntry, Linux, Microsoft, Radiohead, cow, Gmail, search, sex, "Magnus Franklin", The Torah and the West Bank, art
Liverpool.
