I understand your sympathy for google (cool album name, btw), but the problem I have with sympathizing with them is: what is their motivation? They already have a monopoly and they make more money if you click on an ad. In fact, if the number one search result is consistently good, you’re much more likely to skip the ads every time. Therefore, Google’s financial incentive is to make search just good enough that you don´t go to a competitor in disgust.

I’m not being cynical, either. There have been various people representing the old guard at Google who’ve come out and said the mission of the company is ever expanding profit at the expense of usability.