John W. wrote:
>> And Google IS an industrial vacuum cleaner, so... what to expect?
>>
> I've practically stopped googling (actually I've always used Yahoo!,
> present NG excepted). Too much information and it's hard to know if
> it's good, reliable, current, etc.

For long term research, I still use the subscription to Copernic I
bought to use with my upgrade to WIN98. It was originally intended to
work with IE and Netscape, but a smooth link to Firefox and the addition
of CJK language input happened about a year, or so, ago. It does the
search, weeds out the dead links, then flags any site that redirects you
away from the front page or appears to be a phishing link. You can save
searches, set it to monitor sites for changes and new links, and have it
auto-run saved searches on a set schedule and report on what has
changed. Unlike Google and Yahoo, it stores search criteria locally, 
which I prefer.

On the downside, the interface has never gotten the makeover to smooth 
and pretty that a lot of other programs have.  You switch it on and, 
suddenly, it's 1997 again.

-- 
CL