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Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

chicagotribune.com

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Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#61

Post by javajosh »

paulsutter wrote: post #50

This article is pure crybaby bullshit PR about a nonexistent problem. Does anyone care about DDG anyway? They're trying to solve a completely imaginary problem, and they haven't got a hope in hell of creating a viable search engine as that costs billions of dollars. Why is this article even on HN?

Why is your comment the #1 comment? I mean, I count 3, count them, 3 unsubstantiated claims:

1. Does anyone care about DDG anyway? I think it's safe to say, yes, there are some who do. I for one.

2. The problem DDG is solving is imaginary. Oh really? What precisely is that problem? Is it search itself that you're referring to, or the prospect of going up against Google? If the former, then you are delusional, and if the latter, there is nothing wrong with attempting to disrupt a monopoly.

3. A search engine costs billions of dollars. Actually, no. There is no rule of computer science that says that. If someone discovers a new, cheaper way to do search then cool!

In answer to your final question, perhaps the reason this article is on HN is to inspire comments like yours, which are wrong, and then comments like mine, which correct comments like yours.

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#62

Post by icelancer »

shawn-butler wrote: post #31
barrkel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I set DDG as my default search in Firefox; the results were abysmal. It felt like being transported back to altavista.digital.com, wading through middling irrelevant links searching for info. I got fed up with having to put !g into every query to get a good result, I ended up switching to DuckDuckGoog instead (and this is my current search provider).

This http://duckduckgo.com/feedback.html is a good place to place intelligent, constructive feedback. The web community (that is, all of us) really, really needs an alternative to Google. I don't care whether you love or hate them. We desperately need an alternative.

MS spent gazillions of dollars trying to do it with Bing and isn't close yet. Google is simply the best service out there by a very wide margin. When people close the gap, there will be a viable alternative. There's no cosmic law that says there needs to be an alternative to product X.

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#63

Post by mbreese »

AJ007 wrote: post #53
crazypyro wrote: post #40

The only thing that caught my eye was Google redirecting duck.com to google.com when DDG expressed interest in purchasing the domain. That seems a little underhanded, but not illegal....

Yeah, doing a reverse IP lookup with domain tools shows a list of 1,029 domains currently directing to google.com (some direct to youtube.com) Duck Duck Go has a TM application filed on April 2, 2008. Google acquired duck.com's owner in 2010. There is a very reasonable case for a WIPO domain dispute, which isn't particularly costly (granted if Google lost, and then sued you it would be expensive.) Very good way to ge…

> Duck Duck Go has a TM application filed on April 2, 2008. Google acquired duck.com's owner in 2010.

For any sort of mark dispute, you shouldn't go by when Google acquired On2, you have to go by when On2 acquired the name. I assume this was closer to the domain creation date of 1995 (or the On2.com creation date of 1999).

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#64

Post by lubujackson »

crazypyro wrote: post #40

The only thing that caught my eye was Google redirecting duck.com to google.com when DDG expressed interest in purchasing the domain. That seems a little underhanded, but not illegal....

Although if that's Google's standard practice with domains, DDG really doesn't have a complaint.

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#65

Post by ck2 »

ricardobeat wrote: post #57
ck2 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their results are nearly identical to Bing in every case I've tried. Let me know if you find a search result that is different.

First attempt: http://cl.ly/image/340S0R3b0K0d

Those aren't actually website results. Those are links to entries for the single word on other sites, then followed by bing results.

How often do you do single word searches in the realworld?

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#66

Post by elssar »

Just for kicks I searched for 'search engine' on Google - once on Chrome(logged into my Google account), and once on Firefox(not logged in). Didn't get Google on the first page on either searche, did get google custom search engine though(which is a completely different thing). Duck Duck Go was in the first page both the times, as were Bing, Yahoo, some engine called Dogpile(never heard of 'em but it was #2 on Chrome), the Wikipedia article for Web search engine and a few other links. There was a list of popular search engines at the bottom of the page in Chrome, DDG wasn't there, but lots other were, and it was compiled from other sources.

Don't see much discrimination there. Especially when they don't even list their search engine on the first page

Chrome search screenie - http://goo.gl/HffYt Firefox search screenie - http://goo.gl/nUe7t

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#67

Post by greglindahl »

javajosh wrote: post #61
paulsutter wrote: post #50

This article is pure crybaby bullshit PR about a nonexistent problem. Does anyone care about DDG anyway? They're trying to solve a completely imaginary problem, and they haven't got a hope in hell of creating a viable search engine as that costs billions of dollars. Why is this article even on HN?

Why is your comment the #1 comment? I mean, I count 3, count them, 3 unsubstantiated claims: 1. Does anyone care about DDG anyway? I think it's safe to say, yes, there are some who do. I for one. 2. The problem DDG is solving is imaginary. Oh really? What precisely is that problem? Is it search itself that you're referring to, or the prospect of going up against Google? If the former, then you are delusional, and if…

Blekko has a 4 billion page crawl and index, and we've only raised $55 million so far.

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#68

Post by adventured »

Maybe DDG should get around to actually competing in the search market by, you know, building its own search engine. Let's see if Weinberg has any real engineering chops, or if all he can do is complain.

Until DDG bothers to step into the real search arena and compete, they get no interest from me.

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#69

Post by timdorr »

paulsutter wrote: post #50

This article is pure crybaby bullshit PR about a nonexistent problem. Does anyone care about DDG anyway? They're trying to solve a completely imaginary problem, and they haven't got a hope in hell of creating a viable search engine as that costs billions of dollars. Why is this article even on HN?

I agree. Especially when I got to this part:

    In an interview on Wednesday, Weinberg said it is difficult to make his 
    DuckDuckGo the default search site in Google's Chrome web browser.
I just hit ⌘+' on my keyboard and selected duckduckgo.com from a drop down. I didn't even have to hit save and it starts working with DDG immediately. How is that difficult?

Re: Google competitor DuckDuckGo says it's getting shut out

#70

Post by warmwaffles »

What is wrong with people using Google's product and Google showing preference to their products first then others? I mean after all, you are using THEIR software running on THEIR system. Don't like it? Go use something else. No one is forcing you to use Chrome, etc...
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