Said it on other threads, will say it here.
Google makes NO MONEY when you search. The only way it makes money is if you click on a Sponsored Link, which shows up on the right when you search.
Google yourself silly. Just don't click Sponsored Links.
Thanks for telling me this. I didn't know it.
That huge database they're compiling on search results is worth big bucks... now granted, you and i not using Google doesn't really do anything to discredit that database, but every little bit helps. Regardless, I dislike Google, but I don't care enough to stop using them yet. I hope Microsoft crushes them in the next Vista release, but they seem rather tame in their bite since Clinton/Reno dealt their anti-Capitalist tirade upon them.
Not that Microsoft's a conservative company by any stretch either, but they're better than most tech companies.
Ah. But here you can actually cost Google money. Google has a relationship with the Mozilla browser. Mozilla contains a window which is default set to Google (you can get plug-ins for literally dozens of other searches, everything from imdb to wikipedia). When that window is used, Google accrues a micropayment to Mozilla, even if you don't click the sponsored links.
So you can take money out of Eric Schmidt's pocket (he has so much he won't miss it), and use it to support quality open source software (meanwhile using a browser that does not create a vector for malware into your system, assuming you use Windows).
And it's all via the free market, and you can still get the Google search results to which you are accustomed... if you like having the first eight or ten items being bogus link farm sites that are run by fraudsters to scam folks, go for it.
And as far as the "sponsored links" that XL mentions... how many of them are actually any use? I had to search for palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled today, and the sponsored links offered to sell me Leila Khaled. No thanks. I've lived in muslim lands, and I understand why they bag their women. I would too... I could never date an Arab chick, I like having the largest moustache in the relationship.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F