The number is still very low - I'm probably responsible for 30 of those searches myself, so at most there are a million like me.

As long as they're getting enough traffic to survive and grow it's a good thing, though. They just have to exist and have enough mindshare that when Google hits their major stumble, that media story that terrifies the general public, that public will know they have the alternative and take it.

Search isn't facebook; if it weren't for Google's manipulation of its monopoly power, there'd be absolutely no friction in switching search.