Why it might be time to google a new search engine

It may seem like a faint memory now, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past when Google wasn't as synonymous with search as it is today.

- JAMES MOORE

Even after its launch in 1998, kids of the dial-up generation fired up Ask.​com - not Google - posing queries to Jeeves, a digital butler named after PG Wodehouse's fictional character.

But soon enough, the newer, cooler search engine, which now comes under the umbrella company Alphabet, began to dominate the market - the word "google" even became a verb, demonstrating its popularity. And not without good reason.

Beyond serving users the most accurate results of any of its counterparts, it also had a user-friendly interface and crushed its rivals by being the best product available. Sure, habit and marketing spoke for a big portion of its user base, but people weren't forced to use it - even if they were using Google-driven kit, such as the Android operating system or a Chrome browser.