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What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

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Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#201

Post by baddox »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #151
bobbylarrybobby wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DuckDuckGo can't even answer simple queries like "how old is Donald Trump", "president of France", "how tall is the Eiffel Tower", "distance from earth to Moon", and "distance from earth to sun"; it forces you to search its results for the answer. For all of queries, Google and Bing give you the answer front and center without making you click links or read the result snippets. Bing even has an interactive solar syst…

Neither did Google back in the early 2000s. But people still used it and loved it. I would say DDG2019=Google2007 or better in terms of search quality. Instead of thinking that I must use the best search engine, regardless of the ethics of its business model; think that I will use the good enough search engine from among those with ethical business models. Edit: I would additionally like to add that Google's search q…

People got along just fine before the Internet existed too. This mode of argument is not particularly constructive.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#202

Post by edraferi »

dnpp123 wrote: post #124
anderspitman wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried, I really did. Got my close group of ~8 friends on the public Matrix server. People would miss messages because they only use Matrix for that one thing, and would forget to login/check/etc. That and a few choice little bugs pushed them back to FB messenger. That said, I'm hopeful for the future of the protocol.

Yes, things are still moving fast. AFAIK the final 1.0 version of the protocol spec was only released last Summer. The "I missed message because I only use xxx for that one thing" is valid for every app as long as you have fragmentation in the messaging space I think. That's why I like the idea of using the same client for a multitude of services through bridges, and not forcing people to necessarily use your network…

How do you deliver end-to-end encryption in a federated architecture like that?

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#203

Post by Nextgrid »

djsumdog wrote: post #143
monsieurgaufre wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DDG is bad as soon as you're not in the US of A and/or speak any language that is not english.

What about Russian? I'm not sure if they still do, but at one point they licensed a large chunk of their index from Yandex.

No idea but I’d be curious to know the answer.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#204

Post by ryanmercer »

auiya wrote: post #179
Jommi wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're living in a US bubble.

Agree. I've heard WhatsApp usage worldwide is huge, but I'm in the US, and I don't know a single person who uses it.

Same. I used whatsapp for like 2 months to talk to a single person, my podcast partner that was in Australia and we quit the podcast and I never used it again.

I have 2 contacts that use signal, one is a VC that I've texted one occasion when we were trying to talk on the phone but Fi was being Fi and he could barely hear me.

I have 2 contacts that have Marco Polo installed for video messages, 1 hasn't been online in over a month and the other is my fiance that's currently living 9 hours away so we use it most days just to see each other.

My brother and mother message me exclusively on messenger, as do a half dozen of my friends even though we have each other's numbers.

Everyone else is regular sms/mms.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#205

Post by johnchristopher »

h4waii wrote: post #195
aloukissas wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've converted most of my friends to Signal. Easy switch. [edit] The native desktop app is even better than WhatsApp's (doesn't stream data from your phone).

I've also got most to switch to Signal. On Android, it's much easier as it can handle both SMS and Signal messages, so there's much less friction for usage. Group chats are also fairly decent on Signal, I just wish there was a way for an "admin" to exist to moderate users in the group.

> I've also got most to switch to Signal. On Android, it's much easier as it can handle both SMS and Signal messages, so there's much less friction for usage.

Except my friend's gf could never really see when messages were using data or SMS. And my friend put a stop to the experiment because the linux client was leaking RAM like a dam and we both had sync problems between the phone and the desktop client (we are both huge telegram users for the smooth experience when connecting to your account and for syncing. We both despise the privacy risks though).

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#206

Post by danfang »

annadane wrote: post #36

It's not fair to the public that FB bought up Insta/Whatsapp. That is a true lack of choice. If it were just FB, fine, ignore it, don't use it, use Whatsapp. But no, they get to buy up competition whilst telling us how much our privacy and integrity is taken seriously

Some alternatives to FB and WhatsApp exist - I’ve been working on an alternative social network called Thread (https://get.thread-app.com). Check it out!

I’d also recommend services like Signal for secure, private messaging.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#207

Post by StreamBright »

I am pretty much planning on stopping to use the web at all. The only two sites I would really miss are Wikipedia and StackOverflow. Google's search results got shittier and shittier over the years, and facebook took content filtering to the next level of stupidity while making it possible to spread anti-vaxing propaganda on an unprecedented scale.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#210

Post by stevenicr »

anderspitman wrote: post #153
stevenicr wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point, I am going to assume there is an option or bridge or plugin or something that can send an email notification that you or your group / chat room has new messages(?) - and this may be an important, perhaps default selected, option for new users trying out a matrix flavor(?) I remember when fbk would send messages to everyone, some of my clients had a hundred emails a day from fbk in their inbox, and…

Getting emails likely would have pissed them off.

So we need an easy toggle, and option to do this via email reply.. and option to change notifications from each message into twice per day or once an hour or other options.. I think that would satisfy most people.

I hated emails from fbk and turned them all off long ago, but some people seem to like that kind of thing, so we might need options, and options for those who want a reminder but not a bunch of reminders everyday.

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