How AltaVista, the first good search engine, fell into the digital abyss

Re:How AltaVista, the first good search engine, fell into th... by peterlk on Saturday December 19, 2020 @11:28AM (#25478452)

I wonder if the "I'm feeling lucky" has stayed around because it's a good training heuristic for Google Home (and maybe other services?) even if very few people actually use it. I'm genuinely curious why they've kept it around.

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Re:How AltaVista, the first good search engine, fell into th... by flycaliguy on Saturday December 19, 2020 @12:20PM (#25479037)

My guess would be it’s more of a branding exercise. Quirky, colourful, friendly.

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Re:How AltaVista, the first good search engine, fell into th... by saalweachter on Saturday December 19, 2020 @03:48PM (#25481033)

It's also pretty ideal feature to keep around even if it is mostly unused.

1) It isn't very complicated -- it doesn't require a lot of code that is going to rot.

2) When it is used, it's cheaper rather than more expensive.

3) It only "clutters" a UI that isn't actually seen that often nowadays -- you have to actually go to google.com, rather than just typing in the browser bar -- and isn't particularly cluttered.

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Re:How AltaVista, the first good search engine, fell into th... by Google234 on Saturday December 19, 2020 @05:13PM (#25481745)

However, if it makes the experience worse then it’s not worth keeping. I’m sure they did some study where they found that most users weren’t happy and had to go back.

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