graeme_p - 9:16 pm on Sep 22, 2011 (gmt 0)

I strongly believe that a search engine or online portal should NOT be allowed to also own other sites and services

I agree, but it would be hard to do that without applying similar principles to the rest of the economy, which would be radical (good IMO, but radical).

@londrum, Facebook is still in its early days. Tell me the same thing in a few years.

The problem with finding an alternative to Google, is that the alternatives are worse. Bing? MS, already far to powerful. Bleek? terrible SERPS? Duck Duck Go? Wants to send everyone to Wikipedia.

The best hope is that Yahoo gets back into search, and does it better, or a completely new startup comes up with an idea good enough to beat Google's resources.