Slashdot Mirror

Trivial counter example. I'm sure you can find some more with your favourite search engine - although yours will be logging the fact, trying to associate that information with your emails, your purchases, your browsing history, and your accounts on other web sites.

https://www.duckduckgo.com/

It all makes sense (except the title, hmmm potatoes...), and while I totally agree with your opinion about Google as the company, Google as the #1 simple search provider is over and in the past... A lot of people are jumping ship to any of the large list of competitors, I personally started using duckduckgo because of the privacy and simplicity for example.

Or use Duck Duck Go as your search engine and prefix your query with !so.

Two seconds of Goooooogling:

Murdoch gives to GOP
Fox News Promotes Tea Party
Hannity shows rally footage

I suspect this won't get though your filter though. Good luck.

Two seconds of Goooooogling:

Murdoch gives to GOP
Fox News Promotes Tea Party
Hannity shows rally footage

I suspect this won't get though your filter though. Good luck.

Two seconds of Goooooogling:

Murdoch gives to GOP
Fox News Promotes Tea Party
Hannity shows rally footage

I suspect this won't get though your filter though. Good luck.

The "proof" is also in the duckduckgo FAQ...

https://duckduckgo.com/faq.html

> How do you get your results?
>
> From over 30 sources, including DuckDuckBot (our own crawler), crowd-sourced sites, Yahoo! "BOSS",
> "embed.ly", "WolframAlpha", "EntireWeb", "Bing" & "Blekko".

Proof - DuckDuckGo displaying the fake results too. Sandra Lee is the first result.

I'm using Duck Duck Go more and more. I wonder how it would fare in this comparison... especially because I find it the best way to search Wikipedia.

It also happens to be great for privacy and a lack of a tracking.

I switched to Duck Duck Go a few months ago.

Seems to be one of the few search engines that is not doing the annoying link redirection that's become fashionable lately. Click on a link in the search results, and you are first sent to www.google.com/blah/blah/some.website.org, and then redirected to some.website.org. But on checking Google just now, I didn't see that happen. Did they stop?

How do you get your results?

From many sources, including DuckDuckBot (our own crawler), crowd-sourced sites, Yahoo! "BOSS", "embed.ly", "WolframAlpha", "EntireWeb" & "Bing".

Also, the reason people (like myself) promote DuckDuckGo is because they're getting better success using it.

duck
duck
go

http://duckduckgo.com/

In the last few years, I've found search results have been dominated more and more by content mills like associated content, ehow, hubpages, about, and others; or some low quality Q&A page, like yahoo answers. The pages are hastily written and edited, and low content. The articles are also typically written by someone without any relevant knowledge or experience - so the information is common knowledge or wrong.

If google's metrics say quality is up, but their users think quality is down, then google's metrics need to be revised to match user experience more closely. I've started using duck duck go because they block content mills, and thus I think their results are as good or better than google, even without the complicated algorithms and all the data google has accumulated.

DuckDuckGo :-)

Give DuckDuckGo a try. I've been pretty satisfied with the results so far (I've been using it for a couple weeks after getting totally sick of the link farms on Google). They seem to be pretty strong on privacy too, if you're into that.

I'm having the same problem adjusting to DuckDuckGo which I've switched to because I think Google's getting crap. I think it's returning better results than Google, and has a few neat features like disambiguation, but I've got so used to Wikipedia being the top or second hit for just about everything I'm finding it annoying.

As as former Google user I find the current interface annoying (i.e. when you hit the down key it doesn't scrolls the page down but highlights the next search result). Switching to the AntiChrist is just a no-go. So I prefer to use an emerging search engine without the big-corporation bad habits like DuckDuckGo.

I hardly use Google as my search engine these days. 90% or so of my search engine queries go to DuckDuckGo. I only resort to Google if I am looking for music files or something so obscure that I know Google won't provide me a list of 1000+ potential hits, half of which are marketing or shopping sites. I never use Bing, but that's because I have a general hatred for Microsoft and am trying, vigorously, to cut them out of my personal computer use entirely. I also find using some specific protocol search engines to be helpful too. There are a number of nice FTP search engines and I still like using Veronica for Gopher.

I made a big blog post about using Firefox 4 and a bunch of other things you can do to help make it better. Most of you in this crowd can skip to Item 3, I wrote it for users who are not technical.
http://bryanquigley.com/uncategorized/try-the-new-firefox-beta

Or in just one sentence, turn on the surveys to automatically submit, and install/run Grafx Bot - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/200733/.

And in related news, I also would love to see Duck Duck Go be included as one of the search engines...
http://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla/topics/include_duck_duck_go_as_option_by_default_in_search_box

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google.

How about a comparative example?

Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD,

That is superior to C++ on Linux how?

respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

See how long that lasts if the service gets popular and ads need to be shown to make money. Milk it while you can though.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato
12 usd in eur
12 cm in inches

All of those examples return the same "0-click" information when entered in Google, verbatim. The currency conversion in Google also shows a graph over time.

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

Good for you. I'll stick to search engines with maps and which understand locations:
    http://duckduckgo.com/?q=target+near+corning+NY
    http://www.google.com/q=target+near+corning+NY
Sure, "target" could be ambiguous, but surely the best first link is not a random deli.

Yes, I switched to blekko.com as my default search engine in firefox recently: blekko.com. It works well enough that I don't touch google very much any more. Slashtags are a really interesting feature.

Certainly duckduckgo.com is decent, but it's js features are off-putting to me (though not as bad as google's new ones-- a drop down of guesses you don't want that obscures the button you want to click... I thought google tested things before roll-out).

The central problem that any search engine needs to deal with these days is the rapidly declining quality of content on the web. When google got started, it could use the web of links as a guide to quality, but google's success choked off the behavior it relied on originally: no one bothers to link farm any more. And say what you will about the democratic nature of the blog revolution, but there's a downside to making it possible for almost anyone to publish something on the web.

I keep hoping someone is going to put over a fad for making things actually work well... "Web 3.0: now it's serious".

http://duckduckgo.com/

Hey, duck duck go found duck! duck! Go!
duck! duck! Go!

http://duckduckgo.com/

Despite the fact that they aren't the best? Seriously, apart from the speed and regular scans they aren't any better than the competition. And even that probably wouldn't be the case if the DoJ were on the job.

FWIW duckduckgo does a better job from my experience than Google does.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google. Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD, respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato 12 usd in eur 12 cm in inches

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google. Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD, respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato 12 usd in eur 12 cm in inches

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google. Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD, respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato 12 usd in eur 12 cm in inches

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google. Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD, respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato 12 usd in eur 12 cm in inches

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google. Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD, respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato 12 usd in eur 12 cm in inches

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

For the last couple of months I've been using Duck Duck Go with great results, and with much less spam than Google. Plus you get warm fuzzies from using it. Written in Perl on top of FreeBSD, respects your privacy and supports all manner of yummy syntax.

Couple that with zero click info such as:

define sfumato 12 usd in eur 12 cm in inches

I find myself not missing Google in the slightest when it comes to search.

People wont change while theres nothing better to change to...

I see some nerds switching to http://duckduckgo.com/

Practically every default (non-removable) App is focused on using Google. If I have to choose between Google and Apple I prefer Apple, because they presently don't resell my details of their analysis of me to others. This may change, but it's a matter of "who I trust less with my information".

To me, Android is not open enough to call it open, it's a myth similar to the "do not evil" mantra, so pardon me for being critical, but no thanks. I don't even search on Google anymore: I prefer DuckDuckGo ..

Even better is a privacy policy that goes beyond honesty and understandability to:

- Actually value and promote privacy as a central goal of the service provided by the site
- Detail potential caveats with different options or approaches
- Specifically detail what information is shared with whom and for what purpose
- Link to "competing" services with similar policies

http://duckduckgo.com/privacy.html

DuckDuckGo.

I'd recommend trying it. Google isn't anywhere near as far ahead of the competition as folks believe. They've got a tenuous lead over the competition built primarily on having more hardware and more mindshare than the competition. I've just switched over to duckduckgo as an experiment and so far it seems to be doing at least as well as Google has been.

Might I suggest trying Duck Duck Go as a search engine? I've been using it for a few months now and I have been consistently pleased with the relevance of the results it returns as well as the various shortcuts for specific types of searchs (for instance, if I want to use Google to find something instead, I can type "!google [search term]" and I will be redirected to a google search). It definitely has some work to do on returning more results for obscure searches, but it seems to be doing well for a relatively new search engine.

Requires javascript.

Requires Javascript?

The primary issue is latency because they're not hosting with a ridiculously load balanced configuration, within a 50k radius of anywhere, but I suspect that will improve in time.

Quality of results is another one of those things which is bearable now, depending on your use case, but will improve in time. Their !syntax seems pretty useful. I've been using it professionally for a week or two now, and haven't really had any trouble.

Also important: they don't store your information.

It's a damned shame there's no competition left that believes in simple search

DuckDuckGo?

Bah, didn't check the link. Duck Duck Go

Viewable with Tor installed, Search
Engine DuckDuckGo has erected a hidden service for secure, encrypted searches through the Tor network. While past attempts at hidden service search engines failed due to uptime or quality issues, DuckDuckGo marks the first time a real company operating a public search engine has offered a solid search engine as a hidden service for Tor users. Tor users may find DuckDuckGo's hidden service here.

Use Duck Duck Go instead. Google is a POS.

It may be time to venture out and try some others once again.

I've been using duck duck go for about a month and like it. Firefox integration, !bang syntax (!flickr, !youtube, !gimages, etc), keyboard shortcuts, fall over to Google if it doesn't find anything, etc. Good stuff.

There is little reason for you to believe that list is truly "comprehensive", either

Not at all comprehensive. It doesn't have the search engine that I use (friendly privacy policy, SSL out of the box, and a much nicer UI than Google's latest abomination), for example.

It's worth noting that things like Amazon's cloud buzzword farm make it much easier to deploy a search engine than when Google began. A search engine needs a lot of processing power and bandwidth, but indexing is basically a parallel problem. Rather than needing a large investment to build the server farm, you can just rent some time on someone else's relatively cheaply. If you're successful, it will eventually become worthwhile building your own infrastructure, but for a search startup it isn't.