#hotbot — Public Fediverse posts

Ars Technica: Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment. “In the mid-’90s, the web was exploding, but finding anything of actual value on it felt like an elaborate negotiation with whatever proto-search engine happened to be standing closest to the door. Unlike now, when Google is widely seen as both portal and gatekeeper, sites like AltaVista, Lycos, Excite, HotBot, and […]

I rate Hot Bot (2016) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. #ratings https://trakt.tv/movies/hot-bot-2016 #HotBot #trakt

I'm watching Hot Bot (2016) https://trakt.tv/movies/hot-bot-2016 #HotBot #trakt

#DuckDuckGo and #Bing down, #Google sucks. Time to see if #Altavista and #Hotbot are still around

I remember back in the day when we had multiple major search engines you would use each one because of the strengths that it had. AltaVista was a great general purpose engine but then if you were looking for a part number on a lesser-known computer or electronic component you went over to HotBot and easily found what you were looking for. Lycos became good at searching for names of people which it then leaned into. Maybe you could compare AltaVista to Google in a lot of ways but the important thing is that it co-existed with other thriving engines giving people an ability that we just don't have today. All of the options we have today don't have their strengths because in order for them to survive in any fashion they have to focus on the general purpose aspect rather then playing to their niche strengths.

Bottom line is that even if Google is the best it's dominance is still detrimental.

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/02/1248152695/google-doj-monopoly-trial-antitrust-closing-arguments

#Google #HotBot #AltaVista #Search #DOJ #antitrust

Seach is hard #hotbot

Net Cafe: Portals (1998) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4xoMekwShQ

Surprise! #Hotbot is still alive. The results don’t appear to be Bing or Google, either. Anyone know the background here?

https://www.hotbot.com

Cc for @Mojeek.