Actually I do remember when Google came out and it wasn't bad at all. It was fairly quick and it did turn up results. Yes the technology has improved a lot since then but it has for the competition too. When Google came out it was the best.
Cuil most certainly isn't. Unlike Google they didn't didn't have to rush to market in an environment where everything was new. Google came along when the Internet was in a rapid growth phase. Even if they were bad (and I don't think they were) they had the excuse that the market they were breaking into was fairly new and you had to get out there quickly. Cuil does not have the excuse. They've positioned themselves as Google-beaters. They shouldn't have come out until they were. Maybe one day they will be but right now they should yank it, fix the problems and then try again cause all they're doing by claiming that they are a Google-beater and then failing on every single level is making themselves look like a bunch of bull****ters.
Maybe they're trying to make the Google team laugh themselves to death.