From the blind test site:<p>Google: 45%, Bing: 33%, Yahoo: 22% | 9,496 votes<p>While they're all the same order of magnitude, I wouldn't call that "virtually identical"...
Search results are important, but they aren't the _only_ thing that matters here.<p>Which one is faster?
Which has a better UX?
Which should trust with my data?
Which integrates with other products I like?
Which one works best on my phone?
...
bing is faster. my firefox search box has been set to bing for a week, and I am not inclined to switch back.<p>(disclosure: I work for Mozilla, which competes with both Google and Microsoft in browsers, but not in search)
The methodology for this is flawed because people will tend to search for things they have searched for before on Google and then pick Google as the best because they find that ranking more familiar.
It seems a bit like the author is rationalizing why he's still using Google. Although I personally despise Google for the way they mangle my search queries, I don't think there's a need to explain why you choose to use the search engine you use.