As I reported at SEW Blog, Wall Street Journal's principal technology columnist, Walter Mossberg wrote a raving article on Ask.com named Ask.Com's New Look Scores Big Points Against Search Rivals. This is huge for The Little Engine That Could. With a recent spike in market share, and its new marketing initiatives I am very exciting for Ask.com's future potential.
Here are some quotes from Mossberg;
I've been testing the new Ask.com against the search champ, Google. I've found that in terms of relevant results and ease of use, Ask holds its own with Google, and even beats the champ on some searches. It has some very nice features Google lacks, including previews of the sites it finds, an easy way to narrow or broaden your search results, and frequent top-of-the-screen answers that lead you directly to core information.
In general, Ask's search-results pages are richer and better organized than typical Google results, and they give greater priority to content over ads.
Google is still great, and I'm not suggesting everyone abandon it. But Ask.com is well worth a try if you want to benefit from some features that go beyond Google. Like the George Mason basketball team, it just may surprise you.
Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.