Android Walks Out of the Mist (Linux Journal)

I have no problem differentiating ads from search results, whether listed down the right side or before the first search results. And since they are targeted by the search keywords, they are often quite useful, and not usually intrusive. If a few simple targeted ads like this pay for the search, as opposed to the awful generic boradcast ads found nearly everywhere else, I say hoorah for Google.

Something has to pay for what ads support, and the only alternative I can think of are either subscriptions or taxes. I'll take targeted simple ads anyday instead of taxes or broadcast generic ads.

LWN quoted LJ, which is responsible for any fawning. The alternative would be to cut off the second half of the sentence.

Linux Journal is correct. Google does launch things the public finds indispensable; Google Search and Google Mail for example.

You might not use Google's products, but the fact is many/most people use them daily and find them indispensable. The word 'google' wouldn't have become a verb otherwise.

A little less knee-jerk reactions would be good.

(just imagine what would happen if an article mentioned Microsoft as the producer of indispensable technology)

Anybody here uses a default search engine that is not Google?

I don't currently have any better alternative. Yahoo comes close sometimes. The fact that search results point to the server is a major pain and waste of time.

I distrust MS-Live even more than I distrust google.

I tried several other alternative, but there's currently nothing that comes close.

(I'm not using any of their other services, if possible. I'm forced to use gmail at fork, and avoid the web interface there: download all the mail locally and use jabber clients for talk)