DHH's point that Google is just an ads engine is only true for searches of a commercial nature. If you're searching for something like a programming problem or

DHH's point that Google is just an ads engine is only true for searches of a commercial nature. If you're searching for something like a programming problem or a snippet of poetry or whatever, it' still an amazing search engine. So when he says it's "a catalogue with a search engine attached" I think he's exactly correct, but I don't see it as negatively as he does - it's great that the money from Google ads is being used to fund the continued development of one of the most important contributions to society ever (and I don't think it's just for "PR purposes", I think that having the best search engine is in fact the core of Google's long term success, so their incentives are aligned well). As the owner of a commercial enterprise, I think DHH comes off as entitled and whiny here. The period of time where you could get free traffic to your business from search was a brief historical anomaly. Advertising isn't going to be free.