

Ask YC: On Cuil - Novash

I know this has probably been over debated lately. Everyone's saying the Cuil is a fail as a search engine. Am I the only one that noticed the detail that it seems to bring more results the more specific is the query?<p>I mean, I've read on a blog somewhere that Cuil doesn't bring any results for "Cobol". They even had a link. And it's true, it doesn't, BUT they offer those tabs with more specific queries like "cobol compiler", "cobol jobs" and such. And they DO bring results. While I don't know cobol and am unable to assert the relevance of the results, I am biased to believe that we've been using Cuil wrongly.<p>People have been wanting so badly for someone to beat Google at being Google that they pick very candidate and try to use it like they use Google. And this new search engine is bringing something new to us, a new way of search, and we are so locked into and used to the "way of Google" that we are blocking ourselves from trying new ways of doing things.<p>We are coders. We all know how is it like when we move from one language to another that has a totally different way of doing things. We complain, we curse, we swear to go back to our old language, but we bear it and then we 'get it'. And when we get it we can see the advantages, the disadvantages and understand when use one and when use other.<p>Maybe we should first try to learn the 'way of Cuil' before we dismiss it as another failure? I don't know, am I sounding too weird, or does it click into someone else like it did on me?
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dangoldin
Although I agree with you that it may make sense to learn the 'way of Cuil',
I'm not sure the common internet user will be as likely.

Google has trained us to just type whatever we need into the search bar and
wait for the results - I don't think many people conciously craft their
queries anymore.

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noodle
i'd also like to note that search engine algorithms change and the odds of a
startup getting it right, getting it better than the big 3 fresh out of the
gate are slim to none.

there are quite a lot of "CUIL FAILS FOREVER" type of posts around the net. a
startup doesn't have to be a smash success the day after launching, and a new
startup probably isn't going to be quite as refined as the gigantic companies
its competing against. the tech media generally seems to be passing immediate
judgment and dismissing it outright already. i know i'd hate it if that
happened to one of my projects.

i'll revisit cuil in a few months to see whats up and then pass a more solid
judgment. until then, google's still my search.

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volida
Wikipedia didn't happen overnight. Just because Knol is a Google project
doesn't mean it is going to be a success.

no need to refer what happened with google video

