Back in the mid-1990s (seems so long ago), Alta Vista spent considerable time servicing as my default search engine. I haven't even thought about it for years and was shocked to find out it was still in operation.
It is amazing how quickly Google took over online search and now Google is probably the most powerful corporation in the entire world (information = power), though many people don't realize it yet.
Google is what some science fiction writers warned us about back in the 20th century. Google is quickly becoming an all-knowing "god-like" entity and the source of nearly all information.
In fact, so convinced am I of Google's power that as soon as I hit the POST button on this reply, I'm bound to see web advertisements for aluminum foil and for books on paranoia (free shipping if I act now!)
True, but you'll have to dig a little deeper to get to the real truth. Here's a short (30 sec) video that explains who controls the information.