The last 25 years of Google’s history can be boiled down to a battle against the Google bomb. Is the search engine finally losing to its hijackers?
  • Objects in Space@infosec.pubEnglish
    16·
    1 year ago

    Google just canceled the pixel pass service and it was the last straw for me. I had already moved email to proton but now Ive completed the calendar shift, search to ddg, and drive to something else. My Google speakers barely understand anything anymore and I’m just sick of investing in an eco system that may or may not be there in a year.

    All that is off topic to the article which is nostalgic about Google reader and search without ads, but the topic is part of a larger problem. I used to feel that using Google was a project of humans categorizing information, building something amazing and now it feels like I’m shopping at Walmart when i use their products. The type of feeling I can only describe as “I need this thing now so I’m here, let’s get in and out as quick as possible before I spend more money or become annoyed with the environment”.

    This isn’t to just shit on Google, but the point is I used to feel as I was a part of something bigger, humans creating a way to access the world’s information accurately and easily and now it’s much more complicated and that feeling is gone.

    Maybe it’s all in my head.

  • HipPriest@kbin.social
    31·
    1 year ago

    I mean the article is specifically about Google search. Which might have gone downhill since whenever it first came out with the introduction of ads (sorry, ‘Sponsored Results’) but I’m not seeing significantly better competition for delivering search results. Everyone is still just aping the brand leader.

    DuckDuckGo is obviously better for privacy for example but it doesn’t seem to have any ambition except to deliver the same results as Google but without the ads and tracking which is ok but not a big enough draw except for people already concerned about privacy. Bing gets essentially the same results but if anything seems more spammy than Google with pop ups about making it or edge your default search engine or browser. It feels like other search engines just take Google search as something to copy and put their spin on it though.

    I’d say search is one of the things Google is still getting right enough to earn its place as the leader. Some things it does well, some things it has badly declined on (someone above mentioned Google assistant hardly understanding anything anymore, when it used to be the best in this area too), but generally you can replace most Google things with programmes doing things their own way. Search engines just feel a bit like reskins to me

    • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Kagi is better than all the others combined. Yes you have to pay for it. If you spend any time on the Internet day-to-day then it’s worth it.

      • HipPriest@kbin.social
        0·
        1 year ago

        Doesn’t seem to play nicely with Firefox Android unfortunately. Which is ironic because Chrome on Android is one of the areas of Google I decided to experiment degoogling from just a week ago or so

        • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I use it on Firefox Android and it works fine. Go to settings/search/default search engines, then tap “add a search engine”. You can even use a token to enable Kagi in private browsing. Then you just select Kagi instead of one of the other options.

      • Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        I just started trialling kagi the other day and I’m enjoying it so far but one thing I miss is how reliably Google can tell me opening hours when I search for a local cafe. The web results have been better so far, though.

        • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.mlEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          I just use Google maps for that. It will ALWAYS show the hours if they’re listed, instead of sometimes like on Google results pages. On my phone I use the maps app and on my desktop I go to maps.google.com.

          • Nachorella@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            yes, google maps is still king fothat I guess. After a bit more searching on Kagi, though, I’m really liking it, is there a way to see how many searches you have left?

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Honestly Bing has outperformed Google for me lately to the point where I might set as default on some browsers.

    • ripcord@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      DuckDuckGo is obviously better for privacy for example but it doesn’t seem to have any ambition except to deliver the same results as Google but without the ads

      I don’t think duckduckgo has ANY control over improving the search results. Except maybe switching to a different engine.

    • Objects in Space@infosec.pubEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      It doesn’t have to be some privacy focused security super encrypted email service if that doesn’t fit your use case. Use outlook.com, fastmail, proton, try one out for just shopping accounts that you check for orders and shipping etc. I get that we should have privacy and outlook isn’t any better than gmail but I’m just not an all or nothing kinda person. If you’re cool with what it offers and what it takes, then try it out.

      Note that I use proton, paid member for 4 years and going. Happy with service. My point is that you need to pick the right tool for the job.

      My choices are more about not having everything on Google (or being let down yet again) than my fear of google knowing I emailed my accountant two months ago or that I bought a dog poop scooper from Amazon.

    • no banana@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Just like others have said I do really enjoy Proton. They have some good stuff, and it’s not full of ads. I pay for the lowest tier to get some extra addresses, and it’s been reliable for half a decade now.