Technology
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But Weinberg testified that getting users to switch from Google was complicated, requiring as many as 30 to 50 steps to change defaults on all their devices, whereas the process could be shortened to just one click on each device.
Full disclosure, been using Duck Duck Go for a while but...
30 to 50 steps? On a Samsung it's one click from the address bar to select a search engine and then another to select Duck, Google, yahoo, or bing.
The way it's worded they're adding steps for like 10 devices together.
And for it to be a single click, all the options would have to display every time you click the address bar, which would make it look like a 90s web browser.
I'm all about Duck, but that reeks of bullshit because they know most politicians don't know as much about the internet as a 9 year old does.
Step 1. Pickup the phone Step 2. Look at the screen Step 3. Power the phone on Step 4….
- Profit?
That does seem like an exaggeration, but there is truth in the power of defaults for the mainstream audience.
Pixel phones it's harder:
Change fucking launcher... The google bar is always there, cannot be removed and it's always google.
My Samsung phone automatically reverts my favourite browser to the Samsung browser all the time without asking.
He's probably right, but from what I see, the reality is that like 95% of people simply don't care, and the rest will find an alternative.
Its the easiest thing in the world. I degoogled everything in my life in like 2-3 days after work. People aren't switching because the bulk of the world's populace likes the centralization and using the popular option. They just want to use what everyone else is.
I think if you were to ask "most people" about which search engine they prefer, they wouldn't really understand the question. I remember in highschool a teacher asked someone what operating system they have at home, and she replied "I think it's Microsoft Office".
Tech people tend to severely overestimate non-tech peoples' understanding of tech.
Counterpoint: tech literacy is irresponsibly low for a modern developed world that now requires it for everyday operation.
I am lucky my husband likes to learn about this sort of stuff. When we started dating he barely knew the difference between Mac and Windows. Now he uses Linux. Granted, I have to install it, but he keeps on top of maintenance.
I made a list of the Google services I needed to replace, replaced a couple of them, but ultimately that list had dozens of items on it and I'm too tired already to complete it
It is not easy. This comment must be satire?
For example have you tried navigating in a car with a navigation app besides Maps? I don't have an iPhone and the ones I've tried so far suck. I mean, I think Waze isn't even all that good and Google owns even them now.
While I don't believe you can degoogle that quickly, because some of their services take quite some time to properly switch, such as email, in the end it's not too hard, but just takes time and some work.
Changing email is easy, if you don't mind it being a slow process. Just forward your google email, and start slowly replacing any service you notice in the following months/years to your new address.
Google Drive is harder to replace, I went for just running a NAS with Nextcloud, which takes care of most of Google Drive/Docs/Calendar stuff. If self-hosting isn't your cup of tea, Proton is slowly setting up usable google alternatives - they have Drive and Calendar IIRC.
Now for phone, that's the hardest task. You wouldn't help yourself by getting an IPhone. While it would de-google you, there's basically no point in switching google for apple. Getting android to be usable for stuff like banking, MFA and other bullshit you need your phone for while being degoogled is hard, due to the bullshit Google Services. The only solution I found is to either just go with dumb phone with an obscure OS, or just get a Google Pixel and run GrapheneOS.
Maps are another issue, but thankfully we have a local https://mapy.cz/ , which is a pretty OK alternative to Google maps for our country, and I guess they even work worldwide. I don't drive a car, so I don't really need it that often.
The only remaining Google service I use is GCloud VPS, because I have some websites running there on the free instances that I'm too lazy to move. But I'm slowly migrating it to Amazon. Not that it would help much, anyway. And also Youtube, but I'm trying to go through the alternative front-ends as much as possible.
And for browser, I'm using https://mullvad.net/en/browser. Fuck chromium.
I installed a custom launcher that's close to the stock one on my Pixel 3 specifically to make it possible to remove the Google Search widget. Now I have a Firefox widget that points to DDG.
If any are interested, the launcher is Lawn Chair, and it can be installed via F-droid.
DuckDuckGo CEO apparently is just another CEO. I've been an early adopter that's been using their search engine long before there were apps or a browser.
What's stopping people from using DDG isn't switching to DDG, it's getting absolutely dogshit results 90% of time. As an advanced user I know I can prefix my search with "!g phrase" to use Google instead of DDG. The sad fact is that despite the ad-ridden result page and tracking, Google is still lightyears ahead in providing relevant, and especially timely results for a user that is both tech-savvy and critical.
They need to improve their product, users will follow a good adfree search engine, that's a given. Only a fraction of users will put up with degraded results in order to search without tracking.
I sincerely hope they will get their tech up to par. And that their browser on mobile reaches feature parity soon. (as a Z Fold user, DDG browser doesn't have tabs. Brave, Vivaldi and Firefox does).
The new kid on the block needs humility and good tech, not shittalk. Fuck that CEO,. he's undermining something very promising and important.
I've never had a problem with DDGs search results that simply rephrasing my query didn't solve. What are you all searching for that Google's results are "light-years ahead" of DuckDuckGo's? (Honest question)
I agree. Honestly anytime I've resorted to having to use Google for something I feel the results are even worse than DDG.
I often don't find what I want in DDG; and I then try !g to look for it with Google... and Google doesn't find it either.
In my experience it is very rare for Google to help me with a search that DDG failed with. As for the converse, I wouldn't know - because I never search Google first. Why wouldn't I? They're evil.
That said, I will point out that I don't use a google account, and I block most google-related cookies. I know that some people find Google gives better results due to its personalised results; and obviously I'm not 'benefiting' from that. So it is believable that you get better results from Google than I do, due to it knowing more about you, and thus guessing what you might want to see.
I always see people saying Google provides better results, but to me it's awful. I don't even use DDGO anymore, but Google only shows ads and SEO optimized results that look AI generated. Is this common or am I just an isolated case?
DDG isn't the only alternative to Google. I use Kagi and love it. The results IME are definitely better than Google's.
DDG rules
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The U.S. Department of Justice argues that Google has smothered competition by paying companies such as Apple and Verizon to lock in its search engine as the default choice — the first one users see — on many laptops and smartphones.
Even when it holds the default spot on smartphones and other devices, Google argues, users can switch to rival search engines with a couple of clicks.
DuckDuckGo still sells ads, but bases them on what people are asking its search engine in the moment, a technique known as “contextual advertising.” That focus on privacy helped the company attract more users after the Edward Snowden saga raised awareness about the pervasiveness of online surveillance.
It gained even more customers after Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal opened a window into how personal information extracted from digital services can be passed around to other data brokers.
But Lehman said machine learning has improved rapidly in recent years, to the point that computers can evaluate text on their own without needing to analyze data from user clicks.
During the exchange, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta drew a laugh by asking how internet searches would answer one of pop culture’s most pressing questions this week: whether superstar singer Taylor Swift is dating NFL tight end Travis Kelce.
The original article contains 637 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 67%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!