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Google Alternatives

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Re: Google Alternatives

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried the comparison within the last year? You will probably find that while DDG Search is still just as bad as you remember, Google Search is no longer much better. I use Bing quite a bit, too, which is even closer in quality to Google Search.

My problem with bing, and I could be wrong for it, is I’m not looking to replace one data mining company with another. I’d much rather give a smaller, up and coming, company my searches.

Oh, I'm not thrilled to have Microsoft track me. Google disturbs me much more, though, mainly because their footprint is larger (Youtube, Gmail, etc).

Also, I don't live on Windows, which limits the amount of my data MS can get its hands on.

Re: Google Alternatives

#82

I've tried really hard to not use google for search. But DDG is bad. I have it set as my default search. I find myself either: 1) trying duck duck go and then immediately re-searching in google to actually get relevant answers. 2) skipping the search bar and going immediately to google when I know DDG just isn't going to work. Feels like back in the olden days when you had to try Altavista, Lycos and Yahoo to find wh…

Isn't DDG just a frontend for bing.com?

DuckDuckGo's results are a compilation of "over 400" sources,[8] including Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Yandex, its own web crawler (the DuckDuckBot) and others.[3][8][9][10] It also uses data from crowdsourced sites, including Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the results.[10][11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo

Re: Google Alternatives

#83

> There are other alternatives to Google Chrome like Apple’s Safari and Microsoft’s Edge but many of these have serious privacy issues. Really? I don't anything about Edge, but what serious privacy issues does Safari have? It doesn't send data back to Apple as far as I can tell. I can use ad blockers and tracker blockers with it. Or when they say "some of these" do they mean "one of these two?"

Does Safari sync your data to icloud? If so, it can be secretly subpoenaed.

This is 100% true and 99% of time overlooked fact. Many people don't realize Apple can and does share iCloud data with law enforcement agencies.

Re: Google Alternatives

#84

I really like keyword searches in Firefox's navigation bar. They are like lower latency and faster DDG "bangs". What I found is that most of my searches are better served by direct searches on Wikipedia and Stack Overflow. For Linux and software trouble shooting, using Google is better, but at least there's less "privacy surface area" than doing everything through Google. There's also so much SEO-spam on Google/Bing…

Sadly, keyword searches are being deprecated in Firefox Desktop, and are already not implemented in latest Firefox for android.

There is a plan to extend custom search engines with that functionality, but it is not clear if it can be a full replacement.

I tried to find a link to the discussion where Mozilla took this decision, but apparently the decision process at Mozilla is not very open, or it’s documentation is scattered among too many systems.

Re: Google Alternatives

#85

I've tried really hard to not use google for search. But DDG is bad. I have it set as my default search. I find myself either: 1) trying duck duck go and then immediately re-searching in google to actually get relevant answers. 2) skipping the search bar and going immediately to google when I know DDG just isn't going to work. Feels like back in the olden days when you had to try Altavista, Lycos and Yahoo to find wh…

We've done this song and dance 1000 times: Someone says "DDG is bad" or "DDG is good" and all of the replies are basically "No, DDG is ".

Let's try something new: Let's give examples. I'll go first:

Let's say I have a nebulous recollection that there is a wifi module with "NRF" in the model number. If I search for `nrf wifi` on both Google and DDG, which do you think provides better results?

Let's look at the top URL hits from both (this is in an incognito window, with ublock origin on!):

Google:

1) nordicsemi.com (the manufacturer) homepage

2) press release

3) random Q & A page

4) arduino.stackoverflow.com (question about how to use it)

5) Some blog (someone's guide to using it)

6) nrf.com (National Retail Federation) conference category: wifi and bluetooth analytics (unrelated result, but I can imagine someone going to this conference might google the exact same thing, good thing Google knows to show it...

--- A random box showing questions relevant to the device ---

7) arduino.cc (question about how to use it)

8) (someone's guide to using it)

9) (another page on using it)

10) (sells it)

DDG:

1) (someone's guide to using it)

2) (someone's guide to using it)

3) (someone's guide to using it)

4) (someone's guide to using it)

5) (someone's guide to using it)

6) (another guide to using it)

7) (someone's guide to using it)

8) arduino.cc (question about how to use it)

9) random Q & A page

10) another random Q & A page

As you can see, Google seems to prefer authoritative sources (the manufacturer, the conference that coincidentally has the same name and category), while DDG seems to prefer blogs and how-to guides. I won't say which is better, that's entirely subjective.

Re: Google Alternatives

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'll consider Google alternatives when there is a better alternative. Sure, you do you, nothing wrong with that. I'd rather use 'inferior' technology if that means better privacy standards.

In what way does google invade your privacy that has made you worse off?

>In what way does google invade your privacy that has made you worse off?

This made me laugh. Let's talk about an example. Imagine the nicest house with all of the features possible. You get to live in the house and enjoy all benefits at not cost whatsoever. Only catch would be that the house would be made of transparent glass and everyone outside gets to see what you are doing at all times. Would you still choose to live in the house? Sure you might, I for one will not because it would make me extremely uncomfortable. It might not directly make me worse off but tracking my every move does not sit right with me.

Using google's service is somewhat like that transparent house except whatever you do on web is tracked, profiled and used against your best interests.

Re: Google Alternatives

#89

Currently shopping for an email host. For 2-3 accounts, Protonmail is pretty pricey, compared with tutanota... I've heard good things about protonmail, but does anybody have experience with tutanota or any of the other alternatives listed?

Curious: Why not sign up for a web hosting provider that provides email as well? Dreamhost right now has a discount for $4/mo if you sign up for one year. Otherwise it's $9/mo in general. You get unlimited user email accounts. And you get web hosting should you ever want it.

Their email interface may not be great, but I download using IMAP anyway. And you could install your own preferred web interface on the shared hosting you'll have.

Re: Google Alternatives

#90
I was addicted to Google News. Until I realized that the news only shows to me what it wants to show. I do not see apnews, Reuters, and lots and lots of sites that I want to. I can customize google news, then it becomes a curator. So I have started deliberately moving away from news, and using the individual sites.
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