via Seth Godin

Seth is comparing both search engines, not on a functional or on a “index-size” level, but on an “icon” level.

Interesting, and, in my opinion, true!

Markets love icons. We seek them out. […]

Once there’s an icon in place, it’s there because it’s working. It serves a purpose, it carries useful information and performs a valuable function. There will never (or not for a generation, anyway) be the next Marilyn Monroe because this Marilyn Monroe isn’t broken.

Google, of course, is the Marilyn Monroe of search.  […]

The challenge for organizations is this: the easiest projects to start and fund are those that go after existing icons. The search for the “next” is easy to explain and exciting to join because we can visualize the benefits. But success keeps going to people who build new icons, not to those that seek to replace the most successful existing ones.

The current claimed differentiations (privacy, size of index) are perhaps not so evident, so that cuil can win enough market-shares against google.