Here's my problem with the design: With the old one, my eyes could act like magnets, being quickly attracted to either the left or right side, sliding up and down either side when viewing search results / ads. Now I have to do this balancing act, putting in quite a bit of effort to keep my eyes on the center column. Whereas I previously just let the magnetic forces direct my attention with the old design, I now have to resist the pull from both sides to keep center focused, making it extremely uncomfortable. Part of me thinks this new design probably yielded more ad revenue because now people can more easily succumb to the pull from the right. It's a lot less polarized than before.