If you haven't heard of Microsoft's new search engine Bing, it is alive and working (from what I've used). I haven't used it a whole lot but it seems to be pretty much the same as Google but with a prettier splash page.
I would say Google is still the man, it knows me way better than the Bing.
The only thing I may give to Bing is its "Bird's Eye" view on the maps. It's not as creepy as Google's street level. You should check it out.