But it's the only search engine I use. It's on my toolbar. I have Gmail and iGoogle. The only map finder I like to use is Google Maps. MapQuest is just out of the question.
No matter what search engine you may prefer, one has to admit Google set the standard and is now giving everyone a run for their money with the apps they offer. After reading the Business Week article on cloud computing and Google 101, it amazing how this idea has grown and will likely be the next level of Internet usage and computing. Microsoft's attempt and merging with Yahoo, which the search engine company refused to accept, shows the industry giant in tools such as word processing is getting a little scared. Of course, Google replaced Microsoft as the leader not too long ago.
Yet, I still remain skeptical. The idea of having all my information hanging out in some server farm thousands of miles away doesn't make me comfortable. Security risks are involved. No company could be hack free. On another related tangent, Google could have all this information about me they use to tailor whatever of there's I use to my preferences or likes, just the way Gmail places ads relating to the content of email. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's weird enough I do a vanity search (which is weird in itself) some old review I wrote as a freshman still comes up. Usually a person's Myspace profile can come up on a search, which depending on what you do in your spare time, may not be such a great thing. It's those who don't know or don't care that will have to deal with the consequences.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2005, 84 percent on Internet users have used a search engine. The study did have one troubling statistic: 65 percent of people with six or more years of online experience said search engines are fair and unbiased sources of information. It found younger users were more trusting of search engine results than older users.
You have to be skeptical in order to survive on the Internet. Nothing goes unrevealed unless you stop it. Misinformation can spread like wild fire if the top search you click on is what you take as fact.
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