We're sorry...
... but your computer or network may be sending automated queries. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.
I'm not completely sure why I get this message from Google -- but I see it quite often. I imagine that it's either related to a toolbar that I'm running which causes Google to limit my searches, or it might be Google itself that's blocking my searches because I'm using Google constantly. 'Twasn't always thus: This is a development I've noticed in the last 8 months, and I'm getting it on my home pc AND mac laptop computers.
Regardless, I'm going to do something that might NEVER have occurred to me had Google not driven me to this point: I'm going to install the Bing toolbar and split my searches between Google and Bing.
Think about that.
Heretofore (a $3 word!) Google had gotten 100% of my business, and now they are going to split it and may even lose it if I like Bing better.
That's not a threat. It's a commentary on just how transparent the search "utility" has become to me. Google's search tool has always been a pencil, something of great value to be used over and over again, like toilet paper or toothpaste. And as Warren Buffett has always said about consumer stocks, when people find a consumer product they like, they're not inclined to switch around much. Unless the product changes.
I realize that Google is absurdly big and powerful and could care less about me. Who cares if I defect to Bing? Probably no one. Google is too big to fail, right?
Yeah well, I remember a story about the development of Bing, when Microsoft execs did a user test that involved showing users Google results branded for Bing, and Bing results branded for Google. Time and again, users thought the "Google" results were more accurate -- even though the answer wasn't always so simple.
I'll let you know how I like Bing. The way I figure it, even a slightly less relevant result is better than "We're sorry..."
