2008
Well there are people who detest Google and others who love them, I have to declare I am one of the people who float. I have a love / hate relationship with Google, I love them when they have my sites in their rightfull positions at the top of the results but hate them when I sart slipping.
April / May 2008 update has seen a big change in the way Google is displaying the results, I have been listed in Yahoo search results as long as Google and the way Google is now displaying the results is more like the results you get from Yahoo. I don't pretend to know how these results are based and know even less than most people about them.
Apparently it is being called the Dewey Update and the best place to follow the events are on Webmaster World. This is the webmasters bible of ongoing events. Posters on this topic have taken a very rational view and perhaps in a few months we will all know how Google is now working, although for my 2 cents worth I think Google gets it right most times and staying one step ahead of the spammers is always going to be a hard job. Why punish the webmasters who spend thousands of dollars per year on providing unique content for their sites and giving their users the best possible experience. Paying for links in Googles eyes is a big no no, but there are some websites that are so competitive that people do not link to them for the simple reason if I link to B I am telling my customers the shop next door is available for this product, why not go in there and see if they will do it cheaper.
Google has a hard job to do and no-matter what they do there will always be a wave of complaints, but remember they have to produce the results people want and they cannot be that bad when MSN / Live their results seem based on the Google concept.