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Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

fastcompany.com

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Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#41

Post by ambicapter »

the_real_cher wrote: post #13

I always wondered why someone couldn't do this. Google was invented many years ago by two guys in a dorm room and since then there's been so many white papers and advancements in the public sphere and the actual underlying problem has not changed that much, that it seems like it could be done by a small group or independent person.

Google basically invented the modern cloud in order to efficiently use the hardware necessary to actually build those search engine indices. It's not really a question of implementing a good algorithm and away we go.

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#42

Post by non_aligned »

the_real_cher wrote: post #13

I always wondered why someone couldn't do this. Google was invented many years ago by two guys in a dorm room and since then there's been so many white papers and advancements in the public sphere and the actual underlying problem has not changed that much, that it seems like it could be done by a small group or independent person.

I think there are two factors that helped Google. First, the search engine landscape back then was absolutely abysmal. I'm sure someone will chime in saying that it's abysmal today as well, but the reality is that 99%+ of consumer searches get good results today. And that's simply because the nature of search has changed: we have billions of people using the internet, and they overwhelmingly just search for products to buy, local restaurants that offer takeout, or for familiar pop content to watch or listen to. And there's some SEO spam there, but also pretty fierce quality assurance by search engines.

Second, the internet was different: when all nerds declared that Google is good, that was CNN-grade newsworthy (and CNN used to matter a lot more back then), simply because the internet seemed kinda important, but there was no other authority on the topic. Today, that's not the case. If you need someone to opine on the internet on air, you invite some political pundit or a business analyst.

So no, I don't think you can repeat the success of Google the same way. It was a product of its time.

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#44

Post by lelandbatey »

the_third_wave wrote: post #34
ourguile wrote: post #22

I greatly prefer Kagi https://help.kagi.com/kagi/company/ but it's very nice to see more competition in this space in general.

[flagged]

Nope, it's just a nice thing I like. It is nearly the platonic ideal of a search engine for me. It causes me no problems and doesn't try to sell me garbage.

It's like discovering that there a better pair of shoes that're more comfortable. Everybody can use a slightly improved more comfortable pair of shoes, so it comes up frequently.

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#45

Post by lif »

the_real_cher wrote: post #13

I always wondered why someone couldn't do this. Google was invented many years ago by two guys in a dorm room and since then there's been so many white papers and advancements in the public sphere and the actual underlying problem has not changed that much, that it seems like it could be done by a small group or independent person.

Provided they have the kind of massive government support Google has had from the get-go, sure!

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#46

Post by eurekin »

ourguile wrote: post #22

I greatly prefer Kagi https://help.kagi.com/kagi/company/ but it's very nice to see more competition in this space in general.

Kagi user here.

When I started using it (~ 2 years) , it was necessary. Google was simply not solving any of my actual issues (software related).

Now, It seems that google might have improved a bit. I check from time to time and the gap isn't as huge, as when Kagi started

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#47

Post by testdelacc1 »

the_third_wave wrote: post #34
ourguile wrote: post #22

I greatly prefer Kagi https://help.kagi.com/kagi/company/ but it's very nice to see more competition in this space in general.

[flagged]

Disclaimer: Not a Kagi user. Unlikely to use it.

I just don’t understand people who get so upset that someone might like something enough to talk about liking it. So upset that they won’t ever try the thing. Like … ok I guess? You do you. It’s just a strange way to make decisions.

At least this is just a consumer product. Worse is when people here say they make technical decisions using the same process. They’d black list certain tech because they’ve heard people talking about how it solved their problems. Also ok, but now I know I should avoid them professionally.

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#48

Post by mdaniel »

balder1991 wrote: post #29
the_real_cher wrote: post #13

I always wondered why someone couldn't do this. Google was invented many years ago by two guys in a dorm room and since then there's been so many white papers and advancements in the public sphere and the actual underlying problem has not changed that much, that it seems like it could be done by a small group or independent person.

We have Marginalia which serves a specific use-case: https://about.marginalia-search.com/

That's what I was expecting this submission to be about, although to be honest I'm not certain that Marginalia would want the influx of a fastcompany sized tire kicking

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#49

Post by koakuma-chan »

testdelacc1 wrote: post #47
the_third_wave wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Disclaimer: Not a Kagi user. Unlikely to use it. I just don’t understand people who get so upset that someone might like something enough to talk about liking it. So upset that they won’t ever try the thing. Like … ok I guess? You do you. It’s just a strange way to make decisions. At least this is just a consumer product. Worse is when people here say they make technical decisions using the same process. They’d black…

I tried it, it's slow and bad and free tier is only 100 requests, and it's too expensive, and price is unjustified. I use gemini with google search grounding.

Re: Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

#50

Post by mdaniel »

testdelacc1 wrote: post #47
the_third_wave wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Disclaimer: Not a Kagi user. Unlikely to use it. I just don’t understand people who get so upset that someone might like something enough to talk about liking it. So upset that they won’t ever try the thing. Like … ok I guess? You do you. It’s just a strange way to make decisions. At least this is just a consumer product. Worse is when people here say they make technical decisions using the same process. They’d black…

I get the impression it's the volume of the folks who sing its praises. There was a web3 crowd for a while, Bitwarden champions would show up to any mention of a password manager, and (ahem) some AI champions can be over the top

In all of these cases, a reasonable counterpoint is that if it were that applicable for all audiences, one wouldn't need to sing its praises, it would sing its own praises

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