Ask HN: Is Google Dead? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?

#71

Post by disqard » Wed, Jun 05, 2024, 7:06 PM UTC

barnabee wrote: post #67

INTPenis wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which company is better? When it comes to that level of data and maturity I think there is no valid competition. I've consciously made the decision that I don't care what Google does with my data. They're going to attempt to track me regardless of if I use their services or not. I have friends who live off grid to get away from internet tracking but I don't envy their lifestyle. So I think like most conscious people…

Kagi is much better for multiple reasons IMO: 1. I pay them, so am not so much the product, from an economic perspective 2. The search results are actually better, for me at least, especially with the customisations it allows 3. They do claim to be free of ads/trackers and care about privacy 4. I see no evidence of them doing the bad things Google do 5. Even if they were just as bad, they are much smaller and it woul…

Like you, I'm a paid Kagi user. I also endorse all of the points you wrote above.

However, there is the uncomfortable truth that Kagi relies on Google search results to power its own infra.

Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?

#72

Post by Ennergizer » Thu, Jun 06, 2024, 1:44 AM UTC

modeless wrote: post #18

Has anyone else noticed that Google doesn't index source code from GitHub anymore? I could have sworn that you used to be able to search for source code that is on GitHub (e.g. error message strings), but today the index doesn't seem to include the source code at all. The pages with the source code are in the index but you can only find them by file name. Big loss for Google if so. I also mourn the Google cache. I be…

It's been my experience as well, 80% of websites that had previously content displayed in google results are just not in Google index any more. Google only left titles of the pages in index which won't rank well in search results and won't be able to find the content of those pages.

Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?

#73

Post by kolinko » Thu, Jun 06, 2024, 6:05 AM UTC

sliken wrote: post #69

kolinko wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google isn't dead because it still has a massive user base, generating more money than ever. Do you remember when iPhone was introduced and Nokia/Symbian was still the king? This is exactly the reasoning line that Symbian/Nokia devs kept repeating when iPhone was released. I remember arguing with them endlessly. It took around 4 years for the company to collapse completely.

Nokia lacked vision. They had a widget much like the original iphone, with better resolution (800x480 vs 480x320), had an app store, and has a user friendly GUI. Rather ironically Nokia wouldn't add a WAN chip to their WIFI nokia 770/800/810 until it was too late. Nokia had an app store when apple was still pushing "weblets" or whatever they called the web based apps. Pretty surprising from a big phone company. Then…

Did you try to develop for Symbian and push anything to their store? The experience was so terrible, that it was easier to build for a jailbroken iPhone, pre-appstore, than for Nokia. Nokia App Store - that was introduced a year after iPhone's App Store - https://www.datamation.com/mobile/nokia-unveils-online-app-s... . As for a user friendly GUI - you must be kidding here.

Before iPhone, devs had to ship apps through web, or strike deals with mobile operators - which were crazily terrible - I remember a story of one operator who had a deal where they literally took all the money, and it was up to a developer to figure out their business model.

As for Elop bringing in Windows Phone 7: my understanding was always that this was literally the reason he was brought over to Nokia -- because they were in such a deep hole. He was brought 3 years after the iPhone, when Nokia/Symbian was already on a downhill slope.

At that time it was reported as a potentially saving move for both MS and Nokia, because their platforms were struggling - https://www.informationweek.com/it-leadership/nokia-to-embra... -- "In July, Nokia reported a 40% slump in second quarter profits, as it has struggled to maintain its lead in the booming smartphone market. Mr Kallasvuo has been facing increasing pressure to quit this year after Nokia issued two profits warnings and its share price fell by more than 40% between March and June."

As for the lack of vision though, I agree. And that is what's happening with Google right now. They are introducing AI chaotically left and right, and there is no serious vision behind it all. I expect Apple will show how it should be done, once again - but I may stand corrected after Monday's WWDC :)

Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?

#74

Post by kolinko » Thu, Jun 06, 2024, 6:08 AM UTC

dahauns wrote: post #64

kolinko wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia did the „stupid” things only when their business was already collapsing due to Symbian, not the other way around. Took them around 4 years from iPhone’s premiere to get to that point. And I remember people saying that Symbian’s user base is too big to fail even weeks before the WP announcements and later up until the burning rig memo. Ditto Blackberry, although blackberry had a shorter history at that time.

We will never know how it would have played out (and yeah, there were no small amounts of stupid things beforehand), but the actual collapse was induced by pouring gasoline on the burning platform.

What else could they have done? Their Symbian efforts failed on every front, and their software engineering seemed broken to the core (looking at it from an outside engineer who tried building apps for Symbian, but also as a device user). It was a company that understood hardware/firmware like no other, but the software part was not there - kind of like car producers and their infotainment systems nowadays.

Re: Ask HN: Is Google Dead?

#75

Post by nicbou » Thu, Jun 06, 2024, 10:41 PM UTC

soentypen wrote: post #9

nicbou wrote: post #2

They completely lost the plot. Google search went from great to terrible to Ryanair check-in experience within a few years. Now they just killed traffic to a lot of independent websites in favour of a hundred or so generic superwebsites‘ slop. The internet is turning into just a dozen websites at an alarming speed.

I think in the future we will have to spend more time on forums again to find what we need.

"just google it"