David C asked: Plain & Simple:

1. I want to create my own search engine.
2. I want to custom-brand the search engine.
3. Yes, in other words, I want to create my own “Yahoo!” or Google.
4. I am not interested in hearing your views regarding market dominance and how it interferes with the feasibility of this project.
5. I do not want the Google custom search module on my site, as it is NOT custom branded AND it limits my searches to the Google world.
Everybody, I want to thank you all for your answers. I’ve gotten some really useful input from some of you. Please, keep the answers coming, I think this is a question that many people are interested in.