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Is the stuff that Google does in technology a bad or good influence for smaller search engine startups? I mean, do they put so much into research and development, to the point that small startup Internet companies today are challenged to replicate the success level of Google, that it's unrealistic to look at Google and say you want your search engine to be the next Google because it's an unknown what goes into building the next great search engine technology?

Can a startup find out and ask someone at Google, and do they not want to share what's going on behind the scenes? For instance, Google's new Classic homepage that ever so gracefully fades, or its latest search interface that looks so simple, what really goes into these ever so subtle, yet advanced technologies? Is Google using something to load its search queries faster than any other search engine that they are not sharing with the general public, or is it just the way Google has so many servers that makes it outperforms other search engines. Is there a secret sauce or something that Google does not want the rest of the world to know?

Although Google is looking so simple on the homepage, can mislead someone to want to create the next big search engine, and not realize what actually goes into it. It seems like small startup sites like DuckDuckGo or Spezify are trying to be the next Google, yet they are far from it, and not really living up to Google's standards. Is it bad for people starting a search engine or Internet company today to look at Google and learn from them, as what they do is so esoteric for developers to replicate? Is it unrealistic to think a startup today can be the next Google or is the next Google just that.

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IMHO Google should be an example for new startups to learn what it is needed to achieve success on this business. I would definitely try to learn from them as much as possible. I wouldn´t try to be the next Google. Better than that, finding the gaps, missing points Google may be not interested in are a good place to start for new entrepreneurs and see what they can develop from there. In my opinion what makes Google different from the rest is that they really find the way to constantly innovate, create new products appealing to people, easy to use, easy to understand and charge Free!

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Well, nothing is impossible but I could say it would be too hard for a small startup to compete against google. Probably only a huge company at the scale of google can compete with it, like Microsoft (Bing), and not only by technology but also by intensive marketing efforts which I believe what Microsoft is trying to do now.

The only thing I could think of is if a company comes up with something that's much better than the current popular search engines, something like a search engine that uses AI so that you can use natural language instead of keywords. I believe the first company that can do that will be the next google, whether this will be google or another company.

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