Most people who use the Internet don't give it much thought. Sure, there are sites that are annoying, and searching or browsing can sometimes be a pain, but most people just take it with a grain of salt. After all, the Web gives us so much access to so much information that who are we to complain? Well, I'm at the head of the line for the complaint department. As odd as it sounds (and my friends have assured me that it's odd), I have a mental wish list of the way the Internet "should" be. How information should be easy to find. How browsing and searching should be fun, rather than a chore. Lately, though, what I've found that I really want is no frills comparison shopping. Let me use a recent experience to illustrate my frustration and dilemma. When it was time to buy a new notebook computer, I do what I normally do when I want to shop: I started perusing the Web to see what my options were. And, as usual, I got sucked into a vortex of websites that sell notebook computers, hardware, software, and a whole assortment of electronics. I wasn't looking for a server, for network capabilities, for video, for audio, for a camera, or for a printer, but I found that I was constantly bombarded with these and other products that I didn't want or need. When I finally managed to make it to a site's section of notebook computers, I started to take notes. When I finally narrowed down my choices to one of three notebook computers, the next phase of my search began: comparison shopping. I'm always suspicious - and rightfully so - about most comparison shopping sites. One pet peeve is that comparison shopping sites are filled with ads, which I find distracting. Another irritant is that I never know which sites accept paid product placement, so I'm not sure if I'm truly finding a good deal or if I'm being snookered by what is essentially an advertisement. Still other comparison shopping sites are so out of hand that they list any and every e-tailer on the Web, from eBay sellers to fly-by-night operations to reputable dealers. Frankly, I don't want to scroll through page after page after page of results in search of the place that will both give me a good price and that will still be in business by the time my electronics are delivered. No offense to eBay (because I regularly buy from eBay sellers), but I'm not going to buy my notebook computer on eBay. Invariably, then, I ended up with a half dozen browser windows open to different major computer e-tailers, trying to compare apples to apples in order to find what I need at the best price. At the end of the ordeal, I had the computer I wanted, but I also had a headache and many wasted hours. All I'm really asking for is a new type of comparison shopping - a search engine that crawls only the websites of large Internet sellers. I want the comparison shopping site to be clean and plain, with no consumer reviews, no complex calculations, no redirecting me to different sites, and no affiliate tracking. It simply shouldn't be so difficult to buy computers using a computer!
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