Giving up Google

Whilst the Olympics has been drawing my attention away from the world of technology, one Hitwise finding did catch my attention: Google's share of US search hits 70%.

Whilst I have often lamented at the state of the search engine market, specifically the Google monopoly, like most other users I have made no effort to change my behaviour. However, as the Google machine marches forward, and another landmark is passed, we realise that unless we do start changing our behaviour we could end up in a world where Google is the only search engine. Or even the only powerful online presence.

Google has spread throughout my online activities, far beyond the initial search:
-I blog with Blogger.
-I track my web site's use with Google Analytics.
-My blog contains AdSense Ads.
-I keep notes in Google Docs.
-I find articles with Google Scholar.

As there is only so long I can comfort myself with the fact I managed to resist using Google's RSS reader (nb. Newsgator is brilliant), I have decided to stop using the Google Search Engine. Giving up Google Search requires the least initial effort, although will probably require greater effort in total; I often find myself typing 'www.google.com' without even thinking. The only way will be to give up Google Search 'cold turkey'.

Most of us use Google Search out of habit these days, rather than there being any real difference in the quality of the results; the competitive advantage of PageRank has long since been caught up. Hopefully new search engines will give me a whole new perspective on the web.