[feelin_googley]

The average user's needs are so small.

You do not even need "Google level" for most of today's web users.

You can deliver what users need with respect to web search with much less than "Google level".

For example a simple "<title>" search. This is how Google started.

The entry point into the web should be search for domains. A "<title>" search can do that.

Most users today do not do much searching within websites via Google. They search for websites using Google.

Anyway, you are right about storage space and offline search but obviously that truth misaligns with the "cloud" business narrative and coaxing users to store all their personal data in datacenters instead of on their desk or in their pocket.

Expect much opposition to this simple truth.

[exikyut]

http://web.archive.org/ now provides full-text search, mostly of website titles.

Try it out. You'll find that it's... it feels like a trip back to 1998.

[detaro]

I'd say especially the average user profits from a search system that's somewhat clever and finds things even if they do not ask the exactly right query.

And searching for domains is only a tiny part of it, especially now where a lot of information is stuck in general sites with a lot of content (wikis, Q&A sites, social media sites) and not on special-interest sites. And for many generic searches the special-interest domains are various levels of spam/affiliate marketing.