Will's Web Watch: The Butler didn't do it

Internet search engine Ask Jeeves has decided the time has come to move on its eponymous butler after many years of loyal service.

Jeeves was starting to look a little tired and quite frankly wasn't working as hard as he should have been.

The decision comes as part of an overhaul for the service which in recent years has been surpassed by Google, with Jeeves left merely coughing up the dust of the all-conquering Santa Clara search titan.

The word on the virtual street is that Jeeves will be returning in some form or other but it's unclear whether Ask will opt for the tried, tested and failed 'Captain Birdseye route'. The good Captain, for a long time an old man who quite frankly spent way too much time with young children, was replaced by a dashing young 30-something, but the change was short-lived.

Similarly Tetley famously ditched the 'Tea Folk' - putting Gaffer out to pasture - and opted for a more youthful approach because they were seen as being a bit too 'last century'. (Because tea is so cutting edge and 'happening'?)

So, are we set for a younger Jeeves? The marketing team at Ask tell me we will just have to wait to find out the answer to that particular question, but in the meantime they are inviting users - and there must still be some - to log on and suggest who could fill in for Jeeves while he undergoes his makeover as his role with be filled by a series of 'guest butlers'. On this note I have to applaud this absolutely wonderful first substitute, pictured.

(For those of you who don't know what, or who, a 'chav' is - the Urban Dictionary should help.)

Whatever or whoever ends up as the site's figurehead the major priority must be improving the search engine, which has never really sparkled with the exception of the earliest days when it had the biggest novelty factor in the then still novel world of search.

The truth though is that if Jeeves was a real-life butler it's questionable whether he would have kept his job even for this long.

Over the years the answers Jeeves has provided have become a source of much amusement. When one website SatireWire decided to interview the bumbling butler, it appeared as though poor Jeeves was starting to lose his mind.

SatireWire: Thanks for being with us today, Jeeves. How are you?
Jeeves: What day is it?
SW: It's Monday
J: Monday again?
SW: Yes, they do tend to recur. As often as once a week. What's wrong with Mondays?
J: What's wrong with Garbage disposals?

You get the picture. (For the full article, click here.)

Since then the engine has been overhauled and there has been a marked improvement, but it still doesn't compete with Google.

Not the most scientific of tests I admit, but even from an ego-surfing point of view (come on, we all do it) the question 'Who is "Will Sturgeon?"' reveals a gulf.

On Google, nine out of the top 10 are all about me, me, me!

On Ask.co.uk five out of the top 10 are all about fish.

Against that level of 'don't you know who I am?' bare-faced egotism is it any wonder I'm struggling to write anything nice about the guy?

But, to be fair to Jeeves and his creators (before I forget he really is just a made up character), he has been an icon for internet search and a figurehead of the web revolution.

Would any of us really notice Sergei Brin or Larry Page if they passed us in the street? Probably not, but you'd sure as hell recognise Jeeves.

(OK, so the full-size cartoon butler striding the high street would be conspicuous to most, but you get the point.)

Enjoy your gardening leave Jeeves. Perhaps we'll only really begin to appreciate you once you're gone.