Mac.LTL

I sometimes like to try and support the underdog in businesses if it’s not too much out of my way. I worry about monopolies and want to promote competition. But I think this search on Ask.com really exemplifies why other Search Engines aren’t always quite as good as Google and even Yahoo! and Live.

Awhile ago, I wanted to go to the Ubuntu website. Silly me, I forgot what the Ubuntu website address was. Did it end in .com or .org? Was it just “ubuntu” or “ubuntulinux”? So, like any other web surfer, I went to the search engine to type in Ubuntu, figuring it would be the first search result and I could just give it a click and go straight to the site. I figure, Ask.com could probably handle this; no need to expand the Google monopoly. Well, Ubuntu.com was not one of the search results for the first page and there was even an adult-oriented picture that was being displayed as one of the image search results. (Though, that image is still related to Ubuntu.) I took a screenshot, actually.

This was awhile ago when I did that search, so of course I thought I’d give it another try.  TheWikipedia entry aside, Ubuntu.com has managed to climb to the number two search result at Ask.com.  Not sure if I should be congratulating Ask or Ubuntu.  However, it does seem that the Ask.com search does still yield two particularly adult-oriented images.  Ask.com shows the results of the image search in the sidebar.

I should note that Google’s filter does also display those same two images in a search, but apparently Google favors breasts over butts.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Off Topic, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.