I stumbled upon a very interesting question at Yahoo Answers and, surprisingly, the answers were quite thought-provoking. The question was: "What is the difference between Yahoo and Google?" and here are some of my favorite answers (slightly edited):
ThisNickIsTaken: "Google has a philosophy of keeping things simple so that people who are technically challenged can use it without getting confused, Also that simple things are fast.. Yahoo believes in feature rich application.. their products are more customizable and complex."
Gags: "It's a difficult one to answer since both companies are positioned very very differently; on face value, Yahoo looks hip and colorful, whereas Google looks simple and elegant; (...) Google is more thoughtful and strategic, Yahoo is flamboyant and more reactive; Google concentrates on value added solutions rather than presentation and Yahoo concentrates on superb presentation followed by value creation."
Ravelin101: "Yahoo has tons of media and ADS (loads slower). Google search is better (faster) only text ads. I started with Yahoo since I've known it first: Mail, Photos (now Flickr), Geocities but since Google's introduction, I've been moving things to Google Mail, Photos (Picasa), Googlepages."
So Google is strongly associated with simplicity, usefulness, pages that load fast (in one word: text), while Yahoo is connected with rich interfaces, complex designs, pages that load slowly (in one word: multimedia). Gags even called Yahoo flamboyant, which means "elaborately and heavily ornamented". It will be interesting to see if the acquisitions of YouTube and DoubleClick will change people's perception about Google.
Related:
Defining Google collaboratively
Hey GOS
ReplyDeleteWould you be so kind to do a post on all the google blogs out there, Can you post a list of known blogs, theres so many I can't keep track of them all.
I find this ironic considering google claims its trying to organize the worlds information (It seems google forgot about themselves ;) )
Thank You
Most of them are listed in the sidebar of Google's Official Blog. There's even a super-page that collects the posts from all these blogs and it's available in three flavors:
ReplyDelete* HTML - bookmark this
* ATOM - subscribe in a feed reader
* OPML - import in a feed reader
I don't think it will change people's perceptions at all, at least not for a long while. People tend to continue believing the things they already believe, and as long as the main screen of Google remains what it is, I don't foresee anyone changing their thoughts on the matter.
ReplyDeleteI mean, when you're name becomes synonomous with your service...I think you've pretty much become entrenched.
Ionut Alex Chitu,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much I appreciate it. Also just want to say love the blog too.
Have yourself a wonderful weekend.
Thanks.
yes, the blog rules, that blue green red id and that snowed pagecurly logo....
ReplyDeleteI think Google is going to stay light and fast, at least for now. They are de-cluttering YouTube and will probably even fix DoubleClick.
ReplyDeleteI think Gags hit the nail on the head about the Doubleclick acquisition - "strategic." So, no I don't think it'll change peoples' perceptions of Google.
ReplyDeleteThere's a major difference however between Google and Yahoo which the author failed to mention - the former is one of the wealthiest and most powerful tech firms on earth, while the latter is essentially bankrupt and desperately seeking a buyer to bail out their sinking ship.
Google USED to be about speed, ever since they made the "iGoogle" page the default, BOOM!, speed idea went down.
ReplyDeleteThe emphasis has pushed Yahoo into territory that Google hasn't tread upon. The list of Yahoo services unavailable at Google include instant messaging, music, gaming, fantasy sports leagues, job placement, matchmaking and broadband service.
ReplyDeleteWhile it offers free versions of all its index services, Yahoo constantly looks for ways to charge its visitors for extra bells and whistles. Google, in contrast, gives just about everything away except a recently acquired 3-D mapping product called Keyhole, which charges less $$$ for its basic software.
Yes, I agree with this
ReplyDeleteGoogle - Simple, fast and user friendly
Yahoo - Complex, Slow and cluttered
Each search engine has its own merits & demerits. Yahoo is obviously showy. They know the tricks of business better than Google. Yahoo is now rated No.1 site. Google is following on Yahoo's footsteps.
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I was using this for an essay and I noticed that you put all negative things on yahoo and all positive things ongoogle canyou be completely sure about that because there are probably some positive things to yahoo.
ReplyDeleteThey are both the same!
ReplyDeleteGoogle Simple, Powerful, Fast, Very close to Open Source Software Communities,
ReplyDeleteYahoo is only a commercial site offering good services including a search engine. Yahoo servers are running on FreeBsd though they even dont care to build a messenger for linux users. What a shame Yahoo!
Thank you for the comments about the difference between google and yahoo because I am trying to find out if google is better than yahoo! I did not have good experience with yahoo so I am gonna to try google. My experience with yahoo as you said not easy, simple to operate. I hope my experience with google as you said easy, fast and simple. Simple is always the best, I like that. Who has time for all the complicated stuff yahoo put out there? Thanks for your sharing of your comments!
ReplyDeleteWe all should thank to Yahoo! for bring all such stuff on web for us. They are the leader in all section. No doubt Google is ahead of Yahoo! but Yahoo! cares for its customers more.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not but yahoo is for things you need.
Google and Yahoo seem to produce very different search engine results it would be good to understand the reasons why.
ReplyDeleteI AM SUGGEST GOOGLE AND YAHOO ARE THE SAME BUT SLIGHTLY DIFFERENCE THAT ARE GOOGLE IS STRONG INFORMATION ARE INCLUDE BUT YAHOO IS BUSINESS WEB SIT.
ReplyDelete