Google Discontinues Its First Specialized Search Engines

They're no longer popular, but they're the first specialized search engines offered by Google, long before Image Search, Google News or Blog Search. Some people might remember Google Linux, Google BSD, Google Mac, Google Microsoft, the search engines that offered results related to operating systems. Google also created custom search engines for universities and a special search engine for the US Government. All of these search engines are now gone. A Google employee confirmed the news:
We are no longer offering specialized search services at google.com/linux, google.com/microsoft, google.com/bsd, google.com/mac, google.com/about and google.com/unclesam. These services were established many years ago to offer search across a limited index of the web, which in the past was a better way to find this information. For example, google.com/linux was designed to help people find information from message boards and blogs about the Linux operating system. Today, search quality has advanced tremendously, and based on our analysis we’ve found that in most cases you're better off looking for this kind of specialized information using the regular Google search box, for example by typing [linux fedora upgrade]. We understand that some users were surprised by this change, so we apologize for not communicating more clearly in advance of redirecting these services to google.com. For more advanced search tips to restrict your search to particular sites and kinds of information, we recommend taking a look at our Help Center.




You can still find Google Linux, Google BSD, Google Microsoft and Google Mac in the Web Archive. Here's a Google Advanced Search page from 2000 that linked to the "topic-specific" search engines and a newsletter from Larry and Sergey that announced Google Government Search in June 1999:
This month you probably noticed that we had our "Uncle Sam" search off of our home page (It's the next best thing to the CIA) that is now housed on the "more Google" page under the title of "special searches." This search covers all the .mil and .gov domains. So if you are looking for something published by the government, this is the best place to start.

Back in 1998, Google's first homepage linked to Stanford Search and Linux Search.



Google has recently updated many of its corporate pages: from the About Google page to the list of products and the Web Search support site.


{ Thanks, Herin. }

Labels

Web Search Gmail Google Docs Mobile YouTube Google Maps Google Chrome User interface Tips iGoogle Social Google Reader Traffic Making Devices cpp programming Ads Image Search Google Calendar tips dan trik Google Video Google Translate web programming Picasa Web Albums Blogger Google News Google Earth Yahoo Android Google Talk Google Plus Greasemonkey Security software download info Firefox extensions Google Toolbar Software OneBox Google Apps Google Suggest SEO Traffic tips Book Search API Acquisitions InOut Visualization Web Design Method for Getting Ultimate Traffic Webmasters Google Desktop How to Blogging Music Nostalgia orkut Google Chrome OS Google Contacts Google Notebook SQL programming Google Local Make Money Windows Live GDrive Google Gears April Fools Day Google Analytics Google Co-op visual basic Knowledge java programming Google Checkout Google Instant Google Bookmarks Google Phone Google Trends Web History mp3 download Easter Egg Google Profiles Blog Search Google Buzz Google Services Site Map for Ur Site game download games trick Google Pack Spam cerita hidup Picasa Product's Marketing Universal Search FeedBurner Google Groups Month in review Twitter Traffic AJAX Search Google Dictionary Google Sites Google Update Page Creator Game Google Finance Google Goggles Google Music file download Annoyances Froogle Google Base Google Latitude Google Voice Google Wave Google Health Google Scholar PlusBox SearchMash teknologi unik video download windows Facebook Traffic Social Media Marketing Yahoo Pipes Google Play Google Promos Google TV SketchUp WEB Domain WWW World Wide Service chord Improve Adsence Earning jurnalistik sistem operasi AdWords Traffic App Designing Tips and Tricks WEB Hosting linux How to Get Hosting Linux Kernel WEB Errors Writing Content award business communication ubuntu unik