It's not that people have moved on. It's that the entire culture of the ecosystem is built upon a narrative that Google is an all-powerful machine that cannot b

It's not that people have moved on. It's that the entire culture of the ecosystem is built upon a narrative that Google is an all-powerful machine that cannot be stopped or contested. So people don't try to compete, and if they do, they will be ridiculed for it. And for what good reason? Certainly not because of past attempts. In fact, Google has bought some startups that were involved with search. I'd be interested in knowing what you find. There are bound to be many relevant texts not labeled as search, if you know what you are looking for. Perhaps I would start with web crawlers and go from there.