While the media is just looking at the three big players (Google, Yahoo, MS), there are a lot of smaller engines being developed. Some of then try do differentiate themselves from the big ones providing special features. So the question is: What features are essential for a general search engine in the near future?
* Being as spam free as possible,
* Having a big index.
* Clustering search results. (like Vivisimo)
* Localized Search (“show me all lawyers in D-94486 Osterhofen”)
* Personalized Search (with all its variations)
* Answering queries asked in natural language.
* Presenting results in a graphical way. (like Kartoo)