Although many would dismiss Baidu as a Chinese Google copycat, the fact is Baidu's founder developed his own page ranking method independently around/before the

Although many would dismiss Baidu as a Chinese Google copycat, the fact is Baidu's founder developed his own page ranking method independently around/before the time PageRank came into existence. Here's what Wikipedia says in its PageRank entry (Robin Li is Baidu's founder and CEO) >A small search engine called "RankDex" from IDD Information Services designed by Robin Li was, since 1996, already exploring a similar strategy for site-scoring and page ranking.[16] The technology in RankDex would be patented by 1999[17] and used later when Li founded Baidu in China.[18][19] Li's work would be referenced by some of Larry Page's U.S. patents for his Google search methods.[20] I do not like Baidu and use Bing whenever possible (Google is too unstable in China). But again, the fact is one can dismiss Baidu for its many products but perhaps not its search.