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DuckDuckGo vs Google

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Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#171

Post by rimliu »

mcherm wrote: post #158
EliRivers wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN comments have a tendency to obsess about almost irrelevant details. Exact, precise dictionary definitions of words clearly being used in context to mean something not exact matching the dictionary. Arguments over whether passing a pointer counts as pass by value or pass by reference. Taking metaphors and going off on numerical tangents that don't add anything to the meaning or discussion. HN comments suffer from t…

Do you consider the difference between a mosquito and a goose to be "almost irrelevant"?

In this context — absolutely. Alas, the worrying trend I see more and more lately that people start to have trouble seeing context of anything. Sometimes it can be amusing, sometimes it looks dangerous.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#172

Post by EliRivers »

mcherm wrote: post #158
EliRivers wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN comments have a tendency to obsess about almost irrelevant details. Exact, precise dictionary definitions of words clearly being used in context to mean something not exact matching the dictionary. Arguments over whether passing a pointer counts as pass by value or pass by reference. Taking metaphors and going off on numerical tangents that don't add anything to the meaning or discussion. HN comments suffer from t…

Do you consider the difference between a mosquito and a goose to be "almost irrelevant"?

Let's take a look here. The message being communicated was "google is much much larger than duckduckgo". Metaphor used carried that information. Communication achieved.

What's this about a goose and a mosquito? What's that adding to the communication? Seems pretty irrelevant.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#173

Post by TheReveller »

romo5 wrote: post #89

People are conditioned to think Search has to work online. This was true when Google was created. No one had the processing or memory available on their desktop to search an entire index of the "useful" web. Not anymore. How large is a "useful" index of the web today? And can it fit on your laptop? The answer is yes. Can the entire thing be queried fast? The answer is yes. As an example take the entire stackexchange…

How would you keep the index up to date? How quickly would news stories appear in it and stale links disappear? Are you going to read the entire internet every day to keep it current?

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#174

Post by freeflight »

projectant wrote: post #149

But how good can a search engine be if it does not track its humans, and therefore cannot use browsing / search history as contextual clues for query ranking / semantics ? It might be very good. But can such a system compete with one that does use search history as context?

That solely depends on your definition of "good". These comments have plenty of examples where DDG is "better" in terms of usability compared to Google, which is also an important factor besides search accuracy.

Imho using the search history as context can also lead to undesirable results, so can funneling people to overly popular results which still can be wrong, had both happen more than enough with Google.

It's a trade-off between spending time arguing with Google if I really meant to search for that word, regardless of " usage, and having to look at more results in DDG until I find the one that I was looking for.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#175

Post by graphitezepp »

grepthisab wrote: post #125
Lifesnoozer wrote: post #3

Recently switched over to DuckDuckGo on all my devices. Tried to do the same thing several years ago and found it didn't really work out, but this time around it is so much better, both when it comes to speed and results. If anyone has doubts because they tried it years ago, I'd say go for it again.

Same here. Tried a while back and didn't really take. I found myself Googling most things after DDG'ing them. Tried again recently because I love the mission, and it's working much better. Usually what I want is in the top few results, although Google still does a bit better with search result quality. I see myself using it as my main search engine at this point.

I only miss google as a DDG user when DDG doesn't have a tool google has to give you an automatic result, i.e. when trying to look up some unit conversion ratio like lb to kg. But when you know that is what you want there is always !g.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#176

Post by eurticket »

badosu wrote: post #135
alexasmyths wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was one of the most HN comments I've ever read. Hey, it's just a metaphor. Scales and ratios not needed. edit: Wasn't meant to be negative ... as I could see myself writing something like that and my GF giggling at me for a week ...

I agree with parent, it's not just a metaphor but a wildly inaccurate guess that makes the reader think duckduckgo is more irrelevant than it really is. > That was one of the most HN comments I've ever read. What does this mean?

"That's the most, hacker-newsyist comment I've ever read.""

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#177

Post by dx034 »

smt88 wrote: post #128
StavrosK wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you care if one company has two employees and one has a million to produce the exact same end result?

In this case, employee count is very relevant. It might tell us how realistic scaling to the size of Google is, for example. I don't think it does, but it's an interest thought: could DDG manage Google's search traffic with ~1,000 employees (scaling linearly)? Could it do the same with fewer than that?

A very small part of Google employees actually work on search. If google were to sell everything but the search division, they'd be a small company. The ad business and infrastructure are used by search but not the product.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#179

Post by xiaoma »

alexasmyths wrote: post #80
laser wrote: post #28

"Google would be an elephant while DuckDuckGo is a mosquito (this is not to emphasize; I’m actually making things better for DuckDuckGo)." Why would this guy go out of his way to say this metaphor is actually literally informative and generous towards DuckDuckGo while apparently having exerted no mental effort and being incorrect by orders of magnitude on his own data? If you're most generous to the writer, you get 1…

That was one of the most HN comments I've ever read. Hey, it's just a metaphor. Scales and ratios not needed. edit: Wasn't meant to be negative ... as I could see myself writing something like that and my GF giggling at me for a week ...

>" That was one of the most HN comments I've ever read."

You know, that's just a gratuitous swipe. So was this in the blog post: "First, DuckDuckGo didn’t start as a nerd attempt to find the ultimate algorithm."

It really looks like you want to put down nerds to make yourself feel more sophisticated or popular. This isn't high school, though, and you're pissing in the same pool you're posting in. Turning "HN" into an adjective with a pejorative tone isn't going to win you any friends on HN, especially as a new poster. It's just mean spirited.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#180

Post by chrisper »

Vinnl wrote: post #159
Lifesnoozer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started feeling like I had all my eggs in the same basket. Google has my email, it knows where I want to go and when (Google Maps), it translates stuff for me, and it knows what I search for. While it doesn't really affect me that Google has all this information, I've become more and more uncomfortable with the fact that they do. So I figured if I had a choice of two search engines, where I get satisfying results i…

Same here, trying to avoid it as much as possible Google now mainly has my email and calendar. I feel like there should be a better option for calendar but I haven't been able to find it yet (probably because I use DDG :P), but sadly, the only thing with a better interface than Gmail is Google Inbox, so...

The problem is that Google often provides the best service for the buck. But even if money is taken out of the equation some Google services are just the best. Like Google maps or even G suite (this might vary by person).

Hard to avoid them in that case.

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