Reactions to Google instant were mixed. Some loved it; some found it a little annoying. Despite your personal feelings towards it though you can't deny that it's an impressive feature which cuts down on search times. The casual Googler may not notice the difference but if you're a hardcore web surfer instant can be your best friend.
Other search engines are certainly taking notice. Internet underdog Yahoo is launching "Search Direct," which will return an instant, real-time answer to a search query before you can even hit "Enter." Pretty much a carbon copy of Google instant.
Some Google fan boys may moan at Yahoo for 'copying' but really it's a testament to Google's innovation and it shows the big G is at the top of its game. Currently Google is focusing a lot of its time on cultural projects such as electronic books and artwork but they'll be also experimenting away in a lab somewhere figuring out the next web search feature. It probably won't be long until we see more social network integration.
Yahoo’s service is already live at searchyahoo.com but is not currently activated on Yahoo’s main page. It can be used to search for around 15 types of data, ranging from shopping and movies to celebrities and sports. According to Yahoo what is different to their service is that "They’re focused on providing answers, not links. Google Instant is focused on providing more links, faster. Not answers."
Is that a little swipe by Yahoo? Maybe they're right though, we've seen a lot of trouble with spam results on Google recently, speed isn't the only factor of web searching Google need to take a look at quality too.