Webware 100 winner: Ask.com

Ask.com is a simple and easy-to-use search engine that's not as popular Google or Yahoo, but still very fast and capable of searching the Web. Like competing engines, it lets users search the Web for links, images, videos, driving directions, and news, along with local city listings and shopping links for products. However, one thing it does a little better than the rest is display results from these other search types on the same page, even if it's not main category you were searching in.

Ask.com has had an interesting year. In March 2008, it cut 8 percent of its workforce and refocused its target demographic on consumers. The search interface also received an overhaul, simplifying while allowing users to customize and skin various elements from a large catalog that changes the look and feel of the site.

Winner: Ask.com (Ask.com)
Category: Search