
Ask HN: Why don't we seriously seek an alternative if we're unhappy with Google? - ax0ar
I&#x27;ve been seeing at least 2-3 negative posts make it to the HN front page for the past few weeks.
There are very obvious problems that have started to really grow, and it seems Google isn&#x27;t able to or doesn&#x27;t want to address any.<p>My broad question is, why don&#x27;t we still have a very competitive search engine that can actually rival Google unlike Bing, duckduckgo or qwant.
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danso
Google is not just a search engine. When articles/commenters critique Google,
they are usually criticizing the entity that oversees not just Google Search,
but Maps, GMail, YouTube, Android, Chrome, and Google Cloud. Google/Alphabet's
strength in each of these subsidiaries and services has a synergy that
perpetuates its lead across those same subsidiaries and services. In other
words, not only do most people find Google Search to be great, or at least
very satisfactory, they like the convenience of it being mixed with Google
Maps/Youtube (video search/Chrome, etc.

The other thing to consider is that "2-3 negative posts" on HN per day may not
be indicative of anything, because it's not surprising that a company as
massive as Google/Alphabet has a large share of discussion and controversy.

~~~
ax0ar
Alphabet has many successful products like Google, I'm aware of that. I'm
specifically talking about Google as a search engine.

The company didn't start off making 500 different products when they first
launched. Everything started with a search engine and all the other products
came afterwards.

People need an alternative to search the web efficiently without using Google.

~~~
bb2018
It would be great if a superior alternative existed but other search engines
don't come close. I love Google Search and imagine every internet user in the
English speaking world does.

What are the issues with Google search (other than privacy concerns) that are
talked about at length?

~~~
DarkWiiPlayer
I hear that a lot; that other search engines are somehow inferior in quality.
Having used DDG as default search for many years now, I have never felt like
google offers me better results (Quite the opposite, actually). What exactly
is it that makes google "better"?

~~~
ax0ar
I think this is a really tricky question.

Everyone searches in a different way and for different things. While I might
easily find what I'm looking for on ddg, someone else might not.

I think the main reason why most search engines fail against google is because
they haven't yet figured out in depth how and what people search for and what
they find.

Google just has a better algorithm finding things. Peiple are happier using
Google.

------
DarkWiiPlayer
The fact that duckduckgo shows the favicons of the page next to the URL alone
is a reason why I can't use google anymore. I got so used to it that I just
feel lost and disoriented in front of a google results page. The easy
customization is also a neat feature google lacks, mostly because of the dark
background option.

Some people say google just has the better search results, but whenever I
don't find what I want with DDG, I can just add !G to the search and it makes
a google search out of it. In most cases though, google will be just as
clueless.

And I could go on and on about why DDG > Google. The only reason people use
google is that they're used to it. They say "to google something", not "to
search the web for something". Google has become an integral piece of internet
culture and that fact alone keeps it in use.

------
pieterhg
I made a site to let people find alternatives to Google this week called
[https://nomoregoogle.com](https://nomoregoogle.com)

~~~
stephen82
Nice job Pieter. By the way, isn't there a way people can email you?

I have tried to find an email of yours and couldn't find anything.

Yeah, I know about tweeting you, but I don't have an account, so...there you
have it.

~~~
pieterhg
I don’t use email because it’s a time suck for me. I spend most my time
building things and the time I have left I want to spend with people I love,
not answering emails. Most emails I’d get would be about people wanting
something from me (like doing partnerships) but I’m not interested. I’m
content with my current state working solo. My revenue is OK, users OK too, so
why would I need to answer emails?

------
runjake
We have been. Why haven't you?

I think the lot of us that are already exiting see no point in publicly-
scolding Google. They aren't going to change their ways. It's just easier to
move away from them. At some point, their critical mass will crumble and the
stragglers will bail, too.

I think the only Google property I still willfully use is Gmail, and I've
minimized my use of it until I find something to jump ship to (not looking for
Fastmail or other recommendations).

------
pedalpete
Because change is hard, and most people have set their default search to
google and won't take the action needed to change it.

I changed to DDG a few weeks ago, and though it isn't as good as Google for
geo-search and a few other things, but for the most part it suits my needs.

But as YC always says, you need to be 10x better in order to get people to
switch, and privacy isn't a big enough pain point at the moment for the
general population to switch.

It may happen in the future, remember, we made the switch from AltaVista to
Google because Google search results were so much better. It is VERY difficult
to get better at search than google, but that is what it's going to take, or a
VERY painful reason for people to switch.

------
protonimitate
Personally, the time and effort needed to make a total switch off of Google
products and onto alternatives outweighs the concerns I have with Google.

Despite the numerous issues that are brought up, I still find value in their
products. But then again, I'm not nearly as security sensitive as the majority
of HN readers. If Google offered a yearly paid subscription in exchange for
complete privacy and data ownership, I'd immediately do that - but in the
meantime I think the amount of value I've squeezed out of their products is
equal to the value they get from me as a user.

------
rchaud
Back in 2009 when Bing was new, it was laughed at by the average user, and
initiatives to build a user base with Bing cashback deals were seen as an
admission of failure from the people that brought you IE.

Since then, Bing has grown significantly in search volume and ad revenue.
While DDG likely can't reach Microsoft's market share as quickly, I see no
reason why we it can't keep growing and help develop a competitive market for
search options.

I do think DDG needs to approximate some of Google's knowledge graph features,
like displaying weather and sports scores in an easy-to-read mini dashboard. I
think that'd be one way for people (like me) to add it as a bookmark and
create the habit of entering search queries into DDG as opposed to Google.

~~~
mars4rp
I think DDG invented showing results in mini dashboard! they have it for a
long time.

------
dragonwriter
> Ask HN: Why don't we seriously seek an alternative if we're unhappy with
> Google?

The people that are unhappy with Google do, with varying degrees of
satisfaction.

The people that aren't, don't need to.

> My broad question is, why don't we still have a very competitive search
> engine that can actually rival Google unlike Bing, duckduckgo or qwant.

Plenty of people think one or more of those can rival Google as a search
engine. But, that aside, earnest customer interest may support the kind of
investment that can build something to rival the cute offering of one of the
most successful corporations on the planet, but it doesn't produce it on its
own and it doesn't happen overnight.

------
saintPirelli
I have de-googled my life completely (Chrome->Firefox, Gmail->ProtonMail,
Search->DuckDuckGo, Keep->Simplenote, Passwords->Bitwarden), other than
checking in on my old gmail-address every once in a while, which is a minor
thing, but the big things are Android and the Google Calendar.

If the Librem 5 turns out to be amazing I'm going to get one, but until then I
will just have to use Android for better or worse.

As for the calendar there is just nothing that compares to Google's. A cloud
calendar that synchronizes fast and with other apps like Mindbody for example.
To my knowledge, there is just no alternative that even comes close.

------
debacle
Why do you say that ddg can't rival Google? I've been using ddg almost
exclusively in the past several weeks. It was very difficult to switch, and I
still don't exclusively trust ddg (sometimes I'll check Google to see if ddg
is giving me good results), but the more I use ddg the less apparent is to me
that I'm no longer using Google.

------
yuhong
I want to focus on tracing back the problems to Larry/Sergey.

