Cuil and the heated debate

You will no doubt have seen the launch of Cuil last week, but have you seen the volume and intensity of [mainly negative] commentary surrounding it? I published an article on the Cheeze blog, outlining five reasons why Cuil could be the future of search. Within minutes we had many comments, all berating Cuil for its lack of size, its struggle with uptime and it's look and feel.

Other bloggers went as far as calling Cuil 'liars' [the bloggers' words not mine] whilst many articles covered the negatives.

I think it is fair to say that Cuil didn't have the greatest first week, but what has fascinated me is the level and ferocity of criticism Cuil has received. Some of it will be justly deserved, but is this simply because a search engine has dared to be different? This is the first new index [regardless of size] we have seen for some time, and the layout is fundamentally different. With the amount of fury levelled at the layout, must I assume we have achieved search layout nirvana? Should no-one else even attempt something new?

Are we at the point that no-one should be applauded for doing something different in the search space? Should any contendor stay at home instead?

I for one laud Cuil's attempts to do something different and will continue to support it, I hope others will too.