
Duck Duck Go is starting to get coverage - vaksel
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/24/duck-duck-go/
======
markbao
Upon recommendation from users on HN, I replaced my Chrome default search
engine with Duck Duck Go. I haven't looked back since. Results are excellent,
the zero-click data is amazing, and the semantic analysis ("Java can mean
different things. Which one? (Some meanings grouped into sections Animals,
Computer science, Consumables, Entertainment, Geography, Plants, and
Transportation.)") is incredible.

When I searched for my own name, immediately my official site, LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook, and blog (among tens of other profiles) appeared.
[http://duckduckgo.com/?q=mark+bao&v=](http://duckduckgo.com/?q=mark+bao&v=)

This is the kind of chatter that should be going on when we're talking about a
"Google killer"—Duck Duck Go is more of a _decision engine_ than Bing claims
to be. Amazing work, Gabriel!

~~~
johnfn
I'm going to take the contrary. I switched to DDG for a few weeks, but since
have switched back to google. DDG is fine with general things ("Java", "Vim
tutorial", and so forth), but fails with the specific (programming errors, how
to set up esoteric programs, etc).

So DDG could do the job for about 60-70% of the searches I would make, but it
sometimes would just turn up absolutely nothing and just say "why not try
google?" It was cool to see DDG admit they aren't perfect, but I started
wondering (as it happened more) why I wasn't just using google anyway. So I
switched back. Really, using DDG so much has made me appreciate google more
for being able to really scry into the crannies of the internet and 5 year old
forum posts for the answers that I need.

~~~
wdewind
This pretty much sums up my experience. I really really really want to use and
love DDG but the results just aren't nearly as good as google, especially for
specific phrase searching. I LOVE the not storing searches, simplicity etc.
but I can't love the search yet.

I know running a mail server is probably a pain in the ass, but if the owner
of DDG made it so people could have @duckduckgo.com or @cuiler.com or whatever
he's using now I think that would help spread the engine immensely (that and
making it better).

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Why do you think adding mail would be such a boon? Just a forwarding address?

~~~
wdewind
as he said, solidifying the brand. specifically: i get the feeling a lot of
developers here want to be all knowing of the "cool new thing." many of them
think thats DDG, and a DDG email address would be a badge they show off. I
know for sure if I switched from my gmail address a TON of people would ask me
why and what the hell DDG was.

------
AndrewWarner
Because I've watched Gabriel think through his business here on HN, seeing him
get recognition and having his work complimented makes feel pretty freakin'
proud.

~~~
JunkDNA
As a Philly and HN denizen, I'm doubly proud! So neat to see this happening.

------
rms
Congrats Gabriel! Shouldn't be too long until the acquisition chatter starts,
but maybe it's more fun to have your own search engine...

~~~
micrypt
What about the unfounded rumours related to the Cupertino chaps
building/buying a search engine? Duck Duck Go + a splash of brushed
aluminium...

 _Might as well get the chatter started_ :P

~~~
philwelch
I had this same idea awhile ago. Steve probably wants to jab the Google folks
in the eye, and all the time there's this great search engine out there with a
silly name....

------
dotBen
I'm wondering what this is built upon. Someone mentioned Yahoo! BOSS, which if
true would be scary because the lifespan of that product is unknown (given
Yahoo's move to Bing search technology).

Anyone know the true skinny here?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
It's a complicated mashup of my index/crawler, structured crawls/dumps from
crowd-source sites, live vertical APIs, and highly modified BOSS (edited, re-
ranked, merged, omitted, etc.). The BOSS piece already uses Bing as a backup
and could easily use Ask as well.

~~~
dotBen
How have you found Bing VS BOSS.

I have to projects, one kind of a side project and one a main project that
would benefit from BOSS integration but I am not confident the service will be
around in 12 months.

I've not played with a Bing API. Thoughts?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Bing API is equally simple and response times seem similar, so at first glance
they seem to be somewhat interchangeable. But I haven't uses Bing as
extensively as BOSS yet.

I'd be really interested to know your thoughts as well when you get into it.
So please keep me posted.

------
ramanujan
Gabriel, you might consider using your position to do things the big search
engines can't do.

For example, one-click access to mp3s, pdfs, kindle books, movies, torrents,
and the like for download.

That is one of the killer features that propelled Baidu to prominence in
China, and of course it's how Youtube got sold for $1.6 billion.

Moreover as long as it's not hosted on your servers, it is a legal gray area.

Google has made Lala into a world-beater by putting it at the top for all
kinds of music searches. If you went one step beyond and added a little code
that would convert that audio stream into an mp3...or that would convert a
Youtube link (with one click) into an mp4...that would be very interesting and
useful.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
That is basically a core piece of my strategy:
<http://duckduckgo.com/blog/what-google-cant-copy-easily.html>

I hadn't considered that feature though. Don't you think the RIAA and MPAA
would come after me in like 3 sec?

~~~
devin
Facilitating the _download_ of something that previously was only available
for streaming? Probably. I think he's on to something, though. You can get
away with quite a bit as a search engine if you're creative in the way you
present the search results.

------
dctoedt
Maybe I'm missing something, but at first glance "Cuiler" and "Cuilest" seem
like pretty blatant trademark infringements of "Cuil."

Possibly there's a parody defense; I dunno.

(See generally <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark_infringement> for an
overview of how trademark infringement claims are analyzed, especially the
"eight digits of likely confusion" test. The sophistication-of-the-purchaser
factor might be significant here, but some courts also recognize what's been
called "initial-interest confusion.")

Moreover, the Cuiler and Cuilest Web pages look _remarkably_ similar to the
Cuil search page, and nothing like DDG's own search page. This makes me wonder
about copyright infringement.

(Again, possibly there's a parody defense.)

If DDG didn't get a license from Cuil, perhaps Mr. Weinberg should anticipate
getting a letter from Cuil's lawyers.

Is there something I'm not aware of that changes things?

(This isn't legal advice, etc., etc.)

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Yes, it's meant to be and to be interpreted as a parody, i.e. fair use, etc.
No cease and desist or lawsuit filed yet :). I did email them after the fact
saying no hard feelings and hoped they continue the joke, but we'll see!

------
kristiandupont
Congratulations. You have now reached the required seven mentions for me to
develop curiosity. Duck Duck Go is now my default search engine - and so far I
am liking it.

Though I can understand why you wouldn't, I would love a "try Google" link on
every page instead of only those with few results. Every now and then I need
it and it just takes a few too many keystrokes to switch..

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Thanks for trying it out! I'll consider adding that link.

------
rmorrison
I just started seeing traffic from DDG in the past few weeks or so, cool = )

------
motters
I've been using DuckDuckGo for a week or so, and it seems pretty good. I like
their privacy terms, and it makes a change from using Google. Search results
seem quite satisfactory, and there a few nice features which Google doesn't
have, although I expect in time they will probably imitate.

------
rms
Have you considered marketing yourself in China? You'll have a good year or
two before being censored.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Considered it, but honestly have no idea how to approach it. Ideas
appreciated!

~~~
arch_hunter
Having lived in China for years, I am highly sceptical of any foriegner's
chance at conquering the Chinese search engine market. (For multiple reasons,
first because noone else knows Chinese like a native Chinese speaker, and
second because from what I understand it is technically illegal for a
foriegner to start an internet based buisness in China, so you could not even
hire Chinese locals to help you.[Although there are supposed to be several
ways around this, including opening your buisness in Hong Kong with a rep
office in the mainland, or opening a consulting buisness in China that
'consults' your search engine and helps them run their China operations.)

However I would give you a much higher chance of conquering the English-
speaking market in China (expats, edjucated Chinese, etc.) who are afraid that
Google will suddenly be blocked from under them, or after Google does finally
get blocked from under them.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Yes, this is pretty much why I haven't done anything. Is there anything in
particular you can suggest for appealing to the English-speaking market in
China?

~~~
arch_hunter
There are a bunch of websites that are frequented by expats in various parts
of China (like gokunming.com), so any kind of advertising, either through
forum posts or traditional ads might get you some trafic. But apart from that
I can not think of anything easily done to advertise to the English-speakers
in China.

------
monological
Why would anyone use Duck Duck Go when you have Google? Someone break it down
for me, please.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
It's a work in progress, but the about page is dedicated to answering this
question: <http://duckduckgo.com/about.html>

~~~
monological
Those are some good reasons. I like the way disambiguation is done, however
it's aesthetically annoying. It feels like I'm using a search engine made by
Fisher Price. For me to switch from Google would require a cleaner interface.

~~~
RK
I find the "infinite" scrolling kind of annoying. It's jumpy when it loads and
it gives you no reference of where you are in the results (versus which page
you're on with Google, for example).

~~~
samdk
You can disable it at <http://duckduckgo.com/settings.html>

(You can also change the fonts and font sizes and a few other things.)

It's the only infinite scroll implementation I've run into that I don't
dislike, though. I don't find it jumpy at all.

------
hcho
Duck Duck Go is all fine in English search queries but it is less impressive
for languages other than English. If a word in the query happens to be a word
in English, you get results in English scattered around.

Here's an example, I searched for "radio hören" which means listening radio in
German:

[http://duckduckgo.com/?q=radio+h%C3%B6ren&v=](http://duckduckgo.com/?q=radio+h%C3%B6ren&v=)

The third result is in English. The search query has a trivial stop character
in it, the umlaut o. It should be fairly straightforward to detect that this
query is not in English.

Any plans for better l10n?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Yes, most definitely plans for this are on the list! It's a recurring piece of
feedback.

------
pieter
One issue I have with DDG is that sometimes, when it Doesnt find what I'm
looking for, I try to press command-l to go to the location bar to use sone
other service. It seems DDG eats up this shortcut for something else, very
annoying.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
On Apple? I fixed this (I think) the other night. Can you verify?

~~~
pieter
Yes, seems to work fine now. Thanks!

------
brandnewlow
Congratulations. Seriously. Go Duck Duck Go. I think this is a pretty good
example of a guy taking his product along through iterations until it got good
enough to garner some well-deserved coverage.

------
shadowsun7
Just curious: why is the search engine called Duck Duck Go? Any reasons to the
name?

Update: found on Wikipedia - Some reporters have called the Duck Duck Go name
silly or inappropriate for a search engine. When questioned about the name,
founder Gabriel Weinberg has explained, "really it just popped in my head one
day and I just liked it. It is certainly influenced/derived from Duck Duck
Goose, but other than that there is no relation, e.g. a metaphor." The
company's FAQ says something similar

~~~
idoh
Duck Duck Go is a game we played in elementary school. It has to do with a
bunch of kids sitting in a big circle, and one kid chasing another around it.
I can delve more into the rules if you want ...

I don't know how this relates to the search engine though.

~~~
philwelch
Where I went to school that was "duck duck goose".

~~~
idoh
Damn, I got the name wrong.

------
John212
Well done Gabriel. I'd love to read an article on how you created this, the
problems you faced and your thoughts on the future of search.

I think it would be fascinating!

~~~
varaon
Linked articles, technical details and philosophy:
<http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/duck-duck-go/>

------
epi0Bauqu
For the record, this joke was the idea of Alexis Ohanian (kn0thing) of YC &
reddit fame. I want to check with him first before outing him--hence the delay
:).

------
epi0Bauqu
Here's the joke: <http://cuiler.com/>

There's a bunch of easter eggs in there, e.g. search for cuil.

~~~
dskhatri
Yes, very clever! Is there any chance you would offer 2 or 3 different themes?
I recognize that some users may like the look of the site but how about an
option to select another theme for those of us who enjoy the quality of the
search results but can't stand the range of colors and font style?

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Duly noted. I've been adding lots of settings, and you can already change the
font face & size: <http://duckduckgo.com/settings.html>

~~~
puffythefish
I'd definitely appreciate an option for a more traditional theme like Google's
or Bing's. It would make it a lot easier to get used to.

~~~
epi0Bauqu
Thanks. I think I will be adding some themes one of these days.

------
udfalkso
If I search for a location (i.e. Lafayetta, CA), it would be great to see a
map and get a link to google maps. I find this to be one of Google's most
useful features. Otherwise, I'm liking this thing :)

------
nishantmodak
What was awesome is - when i searched for something and it did not yield many
results. As the last link, it suggested try this search on google. that's just
gr8

------
fnid2
Let's hope it can withstand the onslaught of popularity.

------
pavs
Pro: TC covered it.

Con: MG Siegler covered it. As expected, devoid of depth.

