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Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

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Re: Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

#21

Post by stephenr »

madamelic wrote: post #9

Apple Maps is a complete joke compared to Google Maps, especially when in a city. Apple Maps is horrendous with navigation and is frequently out of date. For example, my partner was sent an address, they clicked the address and Apple Maps opened. After two hours of driving, we realized Apple Maps had silently changed the address slightly because it thought we were wrong. We caught the error and tried to correct. Appl…

So what you're saying is - when a free mapping solution that goes to extraordinary lengths to protect your privacy. offered by a company that makes it's profits on tangible hardware made a mistake, instead of using the built-in 'report problem' feature, you chose to remove that app, and use a service offered by a company that literally makes its money by collecting unimaginable amounts of data about you, your family, what you do, where you work, what you eat what you buy, and where you were going on that journey?

Am I the only person who finds this insane?

Re: Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

#22

Post by cromiium »

stephenr wrote: post #21
madamelic wrote: post #9

Apple Maps is a complete joke compared to Google Maps, especially when in a city. Apple Maps is horrendous with navigation and is frequently out of date. For example, my partner was sent an address, they clicked the address and Apple Maps opened. After two hours of driving, we realized Apple Maps had silently changed the address slightly because it thought we were wrong. We caught the error and tried to correct. Appl…

So what you're saying is - when a free mapping solution that goes to extraordinary lengths to protect your privacy. offered by a company that makes it's profits on tangible hardware made a mistake, instead of using the built-in 'report problem' feature, you chose to remove that app, and use a service offered by a company that literally makes its money by collecting unimaginable amounts of data about you, your family,…

For some people it's about getting to the destination on time. Plus on the way there I don't think they were about to send a report ticket.

Re: Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

#23

Post by stephenr »

cromiium wrote: post #22
stephenr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what you're saying is - when a free mapping solution that goes to extraordinary lengths to protect your privacy. offered by a company that makes it's profits on tangible hardware made a mistake, instead of using the built-in 'report problem' feature, you chose to remove that app, and use a service offered by a company that literally makes its money by collecting unimaginable amounts of data about you, your family,…

For some people it's about getting to the destination on time. Plus on the way there I don't think they were about to send a report ticket.

Who said s/he had to report a ticket on the way to the location?

The only action reported (which also likely happened after that specific journey):

> I uninstalled Apple Maps from my partner's phone.

Re: Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

#24

Post by onetimemanytime »

abc-xyz wrote: post #17
codegladiator wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DDG's allure is that it doesn't track you. Apple has a track record of investing into not tracking you, so IMO acquisition by FANG might be doom for it but acquisition by `A` wouldn't be.

While Apple isn't as bad as the others, they're still morally bankrupt (e.g. supporting censorship, removing VPNs from the Chinese store, giving governments access to messages, email and other private stuff stored in the cloud). I sincerely hope (and believe) that DDG will never become evil like Apple.

In China all companies do this. Not having Apple there would not make things better for any freedom-loving Chinese, someone else would replace Apple and do exactly what the Gov wants.

Re: Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

#26

Post by code_duck »

madamelic wrote: post #9

Apple Maps is a complete joke compared to Google Maps, especially when in a city. Apple Maps is horrendous with navigation and is frequently out of date. For example, my partner was sent an address, they clicked the address and Apple Maps opened. After two hours of driving, we realized Apple Maps had silently changed the address slightly because it thought we were wrong. We caught the error and tried to correct. Appl…

That’s also a good way to describe DDG’s search quality vs. Google’s. I used DDG as my main search for over a year after discovering the setting in Safari. It was not pain-free as the result were never better, only about equal or clearly less useful. I overlooked it because I wanted to support something different and have a non-mainstream experience, which comes naturally to me as an Amiga and long-time desktop Linux user. Finally the last straw was out of date results, like a search pulling up an old version of a major company's website from 4 months ago that now 404’d, while Google had up-to-date results.

Re: Ask HN: Should Apple buy DuckDuckGo?

#27

Post by r00fus »

abc-xyz wrote: post #17
codegladiator wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DDG's allure is that it doesn't track you. Apple has a track record of investing into not tracking you, so IMO acquisition by FANG might be doom for it but acquisition by `A` wouldn't be.

While Apple isn't as bad as the others, they're still morally bankrupt (e.g. supporting censorship, removing VPNs from the Chinese store, giving governments access to messages, email and other private stuff stored in the cloud). I sincerely hope (and believe) that DDG will never become evil like Apple.

So Apple is morally bankrupt because they operate in China and obey Chinese laws for Chinese jurisdiction?
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