If proof were needed that the general public have a natural aversion to change and anything that is new or different, look at the reaction to
upstart Search Engine Cuil in the last week.
The former Google employees responsible for Cuil seem to have piqued interest, and the product is quite stylish (very stylish for a Search Engine) and on the whole not bad for a first effort. The problem is the fact that 'not bad for a first effort' won't make Cuil a viable challenger to Google, or even to Yahoo or MSN.
Another problem is the problems.
Blogs galore have picked up on the quirks of sticking a picture next to all results and
the various issues that creates. I undertook a single search to see if this was true, and the results below show Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman next to David Beckham profiles. Obviously.
Of course it's an easy target and ambitious launches will suffer glitches, as unambitious ones will. It's also an unique issue for Search Engines that Cuil's rivals can undermine its early progress,
by design or coincidence. The true tests will be if Cuil can get suficient power to deal with a decent volume of searches, and if they can attract users and, ultimately, PPC advertisers.
