DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps • Hacker News Board

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#381

Post by 2stop » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:15 AM UTC

ucaetano wrote: post #295

latexr wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure duckduckgo is a good company right now, but that's only because they're small. Only because they are small? That seems to imply that if they ever get big, they’ll no doubt become evil, privacy-wise. Apple proves that does not have to be the case.

> Apple proves that does not have to be the case. By handing over all iCloud data of Chinese users to the Chinese government? You surely must be jesting!

Oh gosh, a company in China follows Chinese law! The outrage!

Regardless what your view is, are you seriously suggesting companies should break the laws of the countries they operate in?

Before you say: “unjust laws, yes!” Consider what laws Chinese consider unjust, should they be allowed to break them within the US?

I would err on the side of: if you don’t agree with the values of a country then don’t offer your services. Capitalism, of course puts no value on values, so profit is the only ethical code a business should follow (logically).

Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#382

Post by dmix » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:15 AM UTC

2bitencryption wrote: post #312

Aunche wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with how much DDG's marketing is focused on trashing their competition. They deliberately obfuscate privacy issues to strengthen their narrative. Sure duckduckgo is a good company right now, but that's only because they're small. I doubt they'll stay that way when they capture a significant market share.

> when they capture a significant market share. but they haven't built a better mousetrap, and they're up against the greatest mousetrap ever known to mankind

Plus they could easily survive for decades fulfilling only the niche market who cares about privacy. They may never need to be the "big fish", which will involve compromising their users security, and therefore lose a lot of their value proposition.

Even having 1-5% of the search market is a pretty great business. Not everyone needs to be Google-scale to be a success.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#383

Post by needle0 » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:33 AM UTC

I wasn't even aware DDG had maps at all since they never once showed up for me. Probably because I am entering Japanese addresses, and their address parser isn't recognizing them as such. As much as I wish to use it, much of DDG has been and continues to be really abysmal if you're living in non-English-speaking Asia. I really worry if they're aware and/or are bothering to improve this.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#384

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:47 AM UTC

notduncansmith wrote: post #363

eof wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they certainly can't compete on search quality.

“Certainly”? I doubt the deservedness of that certainty. DDG satisfies most of my searches on the first go, and I’ve never had success with !g after a failed DDG query. Furthermore, the Google results has a cluttered design with sparse information, so it takes much longer to figure out that I haven’t found what I’m looking for. I’d say Google is the one failing to compete on search quality. At one point they did, but…

[deleted]

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#385

Post by eof » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 5:52 AM UTC

notduncansmith wrote: post #363

eof wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they certainly can't compete on search quality.

“Certainly”? I doubt the deservedness of that certainty. DDG satisfies most of my searches on the first go, and I’ve never had success with !g after a failed DDG query. Furthermore, the Google results has a cluttered design with sparse information, so it takes much longer to figure out that I haven’t found what I’m looking for. I’d say Google is the one failing to compete on search quality. At one point they did, but…

I use ddg as my primary search. I haven’t counted but my gut says I do a second search on google ~40% or more.

I like ddg, i support them, but for any but the most basic queries google is a solid tier above.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#386

Post by aiisjustanif » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:03 AM UTC

mattlondon wrote: post #38

grsmto wrote: post #8

I wish they were explaining why they moved away from Mapbox and OSM in general!

+1 I dont see why this was needed - it is a regression in terms of usability and performance (loading performance - cant comment on quality of the maps just yet, but I understand from others that the map data is woeful). Really disappointed. I used to recommend DDG to everyone, but this feels like a sell-out - without any justification for why they've done it, my mind just leaps to conclusions about marketing and try…

One of my reasons for not use DDG was maps, another big one is instant airline data on search query results (which isn't fair bc Google owns ITA). This upgrade to maps is awesome, IMO Mapbox felt like I was in the stone ages for map functionality and UI.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#387

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:06 AM UTC

adtac wrote: post #257

latexr wrote: post #255

So DDG will now use Apple’s data to find places? Please don’t. It should be the other way around. Not even a month ago I made a search for a famous place in Lisbon (you know, big metropolitan area, capital of Portugal, 11th-most populous urban area in the European Union) and Apple Maps didn’t even know it existed. Made the search in DDG and it found it, from where I had to copy the address and manually search for it…

>best data of both Isn't that basically just Google Maps? I thought Apple Maps' data was just a subset of Google Maps'. What does Apple Maps do better? Genuinely curious.

[deleted]

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#388

Post by vkaku » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:08 AM UTC

Apple should launch an alternative to Google Maps on Android. I can slowly see the transition coming.

I love Here Maps too, it's good to have alternatives to Google products.

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#389

Post by iiv » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:23 AM UTC

shard wrote: post #290

morganvachon wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple shared all their iCloud user data (messages, pics, docs, etc.) and keys with the Chinese government last year. [1] They shared all their Chinese users' iCloud data. It's a huge distinction and I feel like you paraphrased it deliberately to try to make Apple appear to have sold out all of their users worldwide. While what they did in China is terrifying in general, it doesn't compromise security for any Apple…

First they came for the Chinese, and I did not speak out— Because I was not Chinese. Edit: Wikipedia link to original poem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_.. .

More like "First the Chinese government came, and I did not speak out, because they don't care about anyone other than the Chinese."

Re: DuckDuckGo will use Apple Maps

#390

Post by Wowfunhappy » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:35 AM UTC

wst_ wrote: post #376

notduncansmith wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Certainly”? I doubt the deservedness of that certainty. DDG satisfies most of my searches on the first go, and I’ve never had success with !g after a failed DDG query. Furthermore, the Google results has a cluttered design with sparse information, so it takes much longer to figure out that I haven’t found what I’m looking for. I’d say Google is the one failing to compete on search quality. At one point they did, but…

Yes, certainly. DDG very often have quite okay results while Google has almost always outstanding results. I have to use !g quite often when searching for a programming or architecture solutions that are just slightly more complex than mainstream. I am using DDG mostly because I trust in the cause. OK, I admit that bangs are nice. That being said, both our comments are just an opinions. I'd gladly see a research abou…

Remember that "Bing it on" campaign Microsoft ran, to show that in a blind test, users couldn't tell the difference between Bing search results and Google search results?

Well, Microsoft's test completely backfired on me. I ran the test many times. In most cases, one of the columns had clearly better results, and 80+% of the time, that column was Google.

Small sample size to be sure, but it covers 100% of the population I care about in choosing a search engine (me).

Granted, this was Bing, not Google, but I kind of doubt DDG would fare better. (And in non-blind tests, I definitely fell I'm getting the worst results from DDG).