Comment Re:It still is faster... if you know how to use it (Score 2, Informative) 441
Google is like any other tool; one has to know how to use it in order to get the desired results. The thing I find interesting about this article, however, is that the tester obviously didn't know how to use Google effectively and was still able to find the answers pretty quickly on a fairly regular basis.
I know that if I was in a library, I would be hard pressed to find what "Sophie and Edward Wessex did on Tuesday." This tells me that Google is useful and accessible to just about everyone, whereas libraries are much less user-friendly.
That, in my mind is more than enough qualification for the title "fastest and most accurate way to find information."
Here's an example of the tester's inexperience with Google:
What was unusual about the British gold medal victory in the 400m in the 1908 Olympics in London?
It took the tester 1min 45sec. I thought that it seemed a little unreasonable for the search to take that long, and I was quite right. I searched for
British gold 400m 1908 Olympics and found the answer in about 11 seconds (on dial up). Who would have thought that the answer would be in the second paragraph of the first result? Also, I could have cut down my search time by viewing the cached page.
I know that if I was in a library, I would be hard pressed to find what "Sophie and Edward Wessex did on Tuesday." This tells me that Google is useful and accessible to just about everyone, whereas libraries are much less user-friendly.
That, in my mind is more than enough qualification for the title "fastest and most accurate way to find information."
Here's an example of the tester's inexperience with Google:
What was unusual about the British gold medal victory in the 400m in the 1908 Olympics in London?
It took the tester 1min 45sec. I thought that it seemed a little unreasonable for the search to take that long, and I was quite right. I searched for
British gold 400m 1908 Olympics and found the answer in about 11 seconds (on dial up). Who would have thought that the answer would be in the second paragraph of the first result? Also, I could have cut down my search time by viewing the cached page.
