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If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

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Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#361

Post by CraigRood »

thereare5lights wrote: post #81
kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

> Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. Came here to write exactly that Why are we still using it? There's nothing better out there.

Google is still my default as 9 out of 10 I get the answer I need quickly. Bing does my other 10% where Google provides junk or stale results.... Google Search really is declining. I'm tempted to move my default over to Bing for month or two just to experiment. On the Maps front, I'm really enjoying Apple Maps as it has less junk - I just want a map!!

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#362

Post by matheweis »

nyx_land wrote: post #93

Because there is effectively no alternative. Bing and engines that are different frontends for Bing results aren't alternatives, don't kid yourself; it only exists still because Microsoft is another company like Google that shoves their subpar product onto people (by making it the default search on their subpar OS that took over the world) and hopes they never seek out alternatives. Most people are too dumb and lazy…

> Bing and engines that are different frontends for Bing results aren't alternatives, don't kid yourself; it only exists still because Microsoft is another company like Google that shoves their subpar product onto people

> They don't need to worry about becoming more mediocre when they've made sure to put themselves in a position where they basically have no competition.

Two may not be ideal but there is still competition there…

If enough people use Bing/O365 instead of Google/Gsuite, that Google sees a significant shift in traffic, they should feel pressure to be less unfriendly and start innovating again.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#363

Post by matheweis »

CraigRood wrote: post #361
thereare5lights wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. Came here to write exactly that Why are we still using it? There's nothing better out there.

Google is still my default as 9 out of 10 I get the answer I need quickly. Bing does my other 10% where Google provides junk or stale results.... Google Search really is declining. I'm tempted to move my default over to Bing for month or two just to experiment. On the Maps front, I'm really enjoying Apple Maps as it has less junk - I just want a map!!

> I'm tempted to move my default over to Bing for month or two just to experiment.

I switched my default over to Bing about two months ago and it is surprisingly good. Subjectively I would say it is better more often than it is worse.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#364

Post by jstummbillig »

kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

> Google sucks compared to Google from years ago.

Sure, in the sense that someone who had their legs broken sucks at running. Compared to yesterdays, Google today has to deal with a whole new level of the entire world trying to game their search. It's easy to fetch good water when the well is clean and no one is trying to actively poison it.

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#366

Post by mohanmcgeek »

jstummbillig wrote: post #364
kauguste281 wrote: post #65

Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. It's still vastly superior to the modern alternatives. It doesn't help that almost all alternatives out there are just Bing with different window dressing, so going through alternatives is just annoying as they have all the same holes in the search results. Another big issue is that everybody just tries to copy Google. I don't need Google in less good, I want to see som…

> Google sucks compared to Google from years ago. Sure, in the sense that someone who had their legs broken sucks at running. Compared to yesterdays, Google today has to deal with a whole new level of the entire world trying to game their search. It's easy to fetch good water when the well is clean and no one is trying to actively poison it.

> a whole new level of the entire world trying to game their search

I think their #1 problem is their product managers trying to do "something" to add said something to their resume and making the product horrible to use in the process

Examples include: - Grid view tab switcher in Chrome Android - Removing dislike count on YouTube

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#367

Post by mohanmcgeek »

everdrive wrote: post #347
thrwawy283 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mentioned things I hadn't thought of. Google's Search accomplishes the goals of 10 years ago, but steps no further than that. It treats its power users like kids, and offers no complex filtering to do things like removing search results that require logins. Librarians love when you come to them to specifically refine your search. Google still has the most useful search, but they've taken away methods to get bette…

>It treats its power users like kids It's worse than that: Google's power user features used to work reliably and repeatably. Now Google tries even harder to figure out what you "want" and filters you results invisibly for you. You can't turn this feature off, and are are unable to easily or obviously avoid it. I've recently noticed that Youtube has a similar feature. If you search for a video, you'll only get a smal…

> Somewhat ironically, the only way to avoid this is to query via Google (site:youtube.com [term]) where you will get a much larger set of results.

Even more ironically and many here would have experienced this themselves: the best way to find something on YouTube is to use Bing

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#368

Post by jbn_norse »

What people, entrepreneurial subculture, and professionals don’t understand is that Google is in the business of delivering a crappy product because of how it relates to advertising psychology. It’s that simple. An example can be observed in SEO which doubles as a product framework in the context of performing a job for Google by altering content in the hopes of producing behavioral modification. This is almost always misunderstood by their best and brightest for lack of self awareness or actual intelligence. No one has ever been able to compete because quite frankly no one has any idea what the hell they’re doing. I do, however

Re: If Google sucks then why is everyone still using it?

#369

Post by mohanmcgeek »

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #22

Honestly I think people are completely underestimating the difficulty of a good search engine. Google was better ten years ago because search was an easier problem to solve back then. End of story. Nobody is coming along with a better search engine. There is too much spam, content gaming, and money to be made by hacking search. These posts should almost be blocked from hacker news. ITs a fantasy. Its like saying that…

> Google was better ten years ago because search was an easier problem to solve back then

Has anyone considered the possibility that all this Machine learning and AI models is what made Google and YouTube searches worse?

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