You’ve all heard of going a day without purchasing gas on a pre-determined date, but AltSearchEngines.com has gone way overboard by taking it to the next level, a day without Google.

The experiment was simple; participants yesterday were asked to go an entire day without using one of the big-dog search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, or Ask.

Instead, participants were invited to try an alternative search engine from a list of 100 other search engines which were posted to AltSearchEngines.

Unfortunately, the results were not so great. Most users failed the challenge; out of those who stuck with it, the majority reported that they simply cannot live without the features that the major search engines have to offer.

Sal DiStefano, in a comment on AltSearchEngines, wrote: “One of those other Search Engines will have to offer me something I can’t get with Google. I’m an experienced user, I find what I’m looking for. I’m familiar with the interface. Why would I change?”

But the challenge actually gave some an excuse to wander from the herd, with search-changing results.

“I would have sworn that Google was ‘the only one’ I’m glad to report I have to eat my words,” commented Catherine, on AltSearchEngines. “I tried out Quintura, and really liked it. I’m going to keep using it for a while, and see how I get on.”

As for calculable results (as shown below, courtesy of Alexa), there were no significant changes in any of the search engines’ traffic; perhaps the word didn’t get out in time, or, if you’re anything like me, you’re stubborn and simply refuse to try anything other than the great Google.

 
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Entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 5:30 am under Google.

Read more entries by George Gardner.
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