[guenthert]

I don't recall AltaVista's response time as slow (although I was impressed by Google's fast response time, which they proudly reported then). It was the page-load time, which was slow for AltaVista compared to the one of Google, which initially drove me away once that alternative was available.

[still_grokking]

Yeah, all portal sites were cluttered heavily. Google was only the logo, the search input field, and the submit button. That was one of the biggest advantages for me.

[Scoundreller]

I liked HotBot’s. It had a customizable portal page where you could X out boxes that you didn’t want.

[hollerith]

You forget the "I'm feeling Lucky" button :)