Comments on: The Inherent Value of Simplicity http://1percenter.com/2006/01/16/the-inherent-value-of-simplicity/ Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:55:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Roben http://1percenter.com/2006/01/16/the-inherent-value-of-simplicity/#comment-4 Fri, 27 Jan 2006 04:13:33 +0000 http://1percenter.com/2006/01/16/the-inherent-value-of-simplicity/#comment-4 <p>Hi Jeremy,</p> <p>Good point, I wasn't aware of http://search.yahoo.com. I wonder if that page launched before or after Google?</p> <p>I agree that since Yahoo does offer a stripped down search page, that it isn't fair to compare Google and Yahoo's homepages. But, unfortunately, that is the comparison most people are going to make since only a small percentage of Yahoo's visitors know about the other page.</p> <p>At first I misread your comment and thought you said that <em>Yahoo's</em> customers would freak if they changed their homepage. Which brings up an interesting question, would Google's customers freak if they changed their homepage and Yahoo's wouldn't? If so, why?</p> <p><a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451" title="Search Engine Statistics">Right now Yahoo is the second most popular search engine.</a> I couldn't find any pre-Google statistics, but I suspect there was time when Yahoo was the most popular destination on the internet. </p> <p>If Yahoo had radically stripped down their homepage to just a search box before the arrival of Google, Yahoo's customers might have freaked, but would they have freaked enough to switch search engines? If Yahoo's homepage was a streamlined search box when Google launched, would Google's other search engine algorithms innovations been enough to lure customers away from Yahoo?</p> <p>I remember the day I switched search engines from Yahoo to Google, it was the same day I first saw Googles interface.</p> <p>- Roben</p> Hi Jeremy,

Good point, I wasn’t aware of http://search.yahoo.com. I wonder if that page launched before or after Google?

I agree that since Yahoo does offer a stripped down search page, that it isn’t fair to compare Google and Yahoo’s homepages. But, unfortunately, that is the comparison most people are going to make since only a small percentage of Yahoo’s visitors know about the other page.

At first I misread your comment and thought you said that Yahoo’s customers would freak if they changed their homepage. Which brings up an interesting question, would Google’s customers freak if they changed their homepage and Yahoo’s wouldn’t? If so, why?

Right now Yahoo is the second most popular search engine. I couldn’t find any pre-Google statistics, but I suspect there was time when Yahoo was the most popular destination on the internet.

If Yahoo had radically stripped down their homepage to just a search box before the arrival of Google, Yahoo’s customers might have freaked, but would they have freaked enough to switch search engines? If Yahoo’s homepage was a streamlined search box when Google launched, would Google’s other search engine algorithms innovations been enough to lure customers away from Yahoo?

I remember the day I switched search engines from Yahoo to Google, it was the same day I first saw Googles interface.

- Roben

]]> by: Jeremy Cole http://1percenter.com/2006/01/16/the-inherent-value-of-simplicity/#comment-3 Thu, 26 Jan 2006 16:17:22 +0000 http://1percenter.com/2006/01/16/the-inherent-value-of-simplicity/#comment-3 <p>It's a lot more fair to compare www.google.com to search.yahoo.com. For the longest time search was the only game Google played. Now they can't change that page even if they want to. Users would freak.</p> It’s a lot more fair to compare www.google.com to search.yahoo.com. For the longest time search was the only game Google played. Now they can’t change that page even if they want to. Users would freak.

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