Popular search engine!

[priyanka-m6.net]

Hi guys,
Whenever I need to search for any information, I use Google and at times Yahoo. Does any one use Altavista,Lycos,Infoseek,MSN etc.?
I think majority of people use Google. Which one do you use?

[MarkB]

Google (force of habit; it doesn't always offer the best results).

[moonshield]

MSN.... They have been giving me accurate search results for the last few weeks and they give me a good bit of traffic to boot.

[r2d2]

I always use Google - I normally get what Im looking for. Maybe I should at least try using the other 2 big engines though.

[ozgression]

Google, normally. But, I have used MSN a few times recently and have liked what I saw (better results than Google).

[James]

Yeah, since Google's being a dumb ****, I'm thinking of switching my homepage to MSN.

[MarkB]

I had to hunt how to add MSN to the search box in Firefox - finally found it here, for those of you who use Firefox:

http://mycroft.mozdev.org/quick/msn.html

So, at least my work Firefox has MSN as the default search in that wee corner search box now :)

[Generalissimo]

I personally don't like MSN search results as much as google. Yahoo is good for most things, but not for shopping as it always brings up expensive stores at the top.

[Chris]

I use Google or Teoma.

[Pulse]

Google & MSN as they seem to gibe me the best results :)

[ivan doe]

i use yahoo more often but many say that google is the best..

[chromate]

Google. Then if I can't find what I want on that I use MSN. To be honest, both of them bring up the usual rubbish most of the time. Yahoo seems to be improving quite a bit these days.

[Emancipator]

Google and MSN are the two I use. MSN sends me as much as google for traffic now as well.

[lz83ny]

I found yahoo and msn to offer better results than google. I think Google is getting to big and overtargetted.

[Doug]

I just use google out of habbit. I guess that would make it my favorite but I have never really tried any of the others.

[James]

I just use google out of habbit.
Yeah, I guess that's the reason I use it, too--that, and the fact that it's the fastest loading homepage aside from about:blank.

[michael_gersitz]

Google is the king in my castle.

[Doug]

Yea, compared to msn, google is way faster loading, especially for the under-privaleged individuals such as myself who still have dial-up.

[moonshield]

use search.msn.com and you don't have to see the portal.

[jaybird691]

One reason for the switch from Google is that both of them have been much faster in indexing my site by page. Both of them update my site on their search engine much faster. While both of them have almost every page of my site indexed, Google only has the main page. So I feel that I will use the search engine that does good by me. Loyalty thing. I have also noticed that my business management sight gets most of its hits from the MSN search engine so that is encouraging.Social Studies Made Simple (http://www.socialstudiesmadesimple.com) The Good Manager (http://www.thegoodmanager.com)

[LuckyShima]

yahoo and msn are both trying to deliver results similar to classical google.

google results in my main area were really stuffed a while ago (probably trying to encourage more adsense clicking), but they soon switched back because now they are competing with yahoo and msn which are trying very hard to be like what google was like when it became very popular. google now has some competition, it never used to.

i still use google because when i search i am working. i need to know what is ranking on google and what google is doing.

[MarkB]

Hey Lucky - do you still need to have a registered business in Australia to grab .com.au domain names? Only asking because you have a couple of nice ones there - did you register businesses with those names?

[LuckyShima]

The requirements for registration changed a few years ago. There are almost no controls on registration now, although they like to pretend there are. Perhaps the only type of control there is now, which is different from the .com zone, is that the owner of the domain name must be identifiable through legal means.

Here are the requirements now:

***********************
SCHEDULE C

ELIGIBILITY AND ALLOCATION RULES FOR COM.AU

The com.au 2LD is for commercial purposes.

The following rules are to be read in conjunction with the Eligibility and Allocation Rules for All Open 2LDs, contained in Schedule A of this document.

1. To be eligible for a domain name in the com.au 2LD, registrants must be:

a) an Australian registered company; or
b) trading under a registered business name in any Australian State or Territory; or
c) an Australian partnership or sole trader;
d) a foreign company licensed to trade in Australia; or
e) an owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or
f) an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark ; or
g) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or
h) an Australian commercial statutory body.
************************

So ... basically if you have an ABN (Australian Business Number), and anyone in Australia can register for an ABN for no cost and with no liability, then you are eligible, because having an ABN means you can be regarded as a 'sole trader' (requirement C) - (you don't actually have to do any business).

Otherwise, if you are outside Australia you only have to APPLY for a trademark and you can register a .com.au. - this one really gets me when I see foreign companies with trademark applications buying up .com.au's

To add to the show, they pretend that there has to be a connection with the business:

************************************************** ***
2. Domain names in the com.au 2LD must:
a) exactly match, acronym or abbreviation of the registrant’s company or trading name, organization or association name or trademark; or:
b) be otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant.
*************************************************

They have never rejected a application for a name on this basis. All names can be said to be "substantially connected to the registrant" because the registrant has bought the name. You can buy as many names as you want and connect them to the one legal entity.

I bought a couple of the names early on through registered businesses, and I got lucky, or made my own luck, and picked up the best one just recently.

[ozgression]

do you still need to have a registered business in Australia to grab .com.au domain names?

Nah, you can register them with just an ABN (sole-traders, partnerships etc.)