I find DDG is good about providing wikipedia answers right in a clear format at the top of the page for most anything i want it for already, but thanks! Any more super useful bangs?
I nuked my Google account a few years ago, the world didn't end.
Google was good when they came out of Stanford, I was using and promoting them then, something changed so I got rid of them they became too mercenary with their results.
It is extremely rare that I need to use their search.
I get the odd nag screen begging me to sign in, I ignore them I don't need Google.
I have 100% conviction that Apple is developing their own branding search engine, and it could very well be in a mature development state. It makes absolute sense, and they can advertise its privacy and integration benefits. Setting it as the default would be a massive blow to Google, as most mobile usage is done through iOS. But I'm sure they won't release it until its something at least somewhat comparable to Google, to avoid the Maps garbage. As long as it looks and feels vaguely similar, 90% of people won't even bother changing it from the default.
Without changing my default engine, just add "!g" to the search term and you'll get Google's results for the same term.
...almost. You get the anonymized Google results, for better or worse. If a user searches for "router reviews" when logged in, one user is going to get networking results, where another user might get woodworking tools, based on what Google infers about the user's interests.
I use DDG. Sometimes the Google search result is better, but DDG makes it easy to handle these cases by adding the !g modifier to your search when you're not having luck with them. There are other modifiers and it makes for an excellent feature. Not only does DDG serve me well in most of my searching, I'm happy to start all my searches away from Google.
If you use an ad blocker and respect their business model, *whitelist* them.
And I believe we should respect and encourage respectful advertising separated from tracking.
I'm also US bound - and I have no problems finding what I need from DDG, whether I'm on my Mac, phone or PC at work.
Just today I searched for a strange MS Access importing Excel file problem and DDG found a relevant thread and I solved it within 2 minutes.
I had to find a manual for a older piece of safety equipment. A device used to measure oxygen levels I've a room. It's never worked since I've worked their and they finally wanted to get the system fixed. Week I've knew nothing about the system and had to start figuring it out. The manual for it was a start.
Well doing a Google search I had the 100-pages of worthless crap. There was one link that had it, but it was as singe weird book site I've never heard of. It would show the manual in a book type layout. I sucked to look through and I couldn't just download a copy. It wouldn't let me.
So I tried DuckDuckGo and guess what, the very first link obj the page had a link right to a pdf copy of the manual and Inc was able to download it, print it out, put it in a binder for a hard copy, and in the end I fixed the system and added another sensor to expand the system. After I calibrated the system with special calibration gas, the system now works perfect!!!
So in this case, Google was completely worthless, and DuckDuckGo saved the day!!!. It's now my default search. Rarely do I ever have to try a Google search and generally still can't find what I'm looking for. How things are out of the U.S.? But the service works great for me.
I find DDG is good about providing wikipedia answers right in a clear format at the top of the page for most anything i want it for already, but thanks! Any more super useful bangs?
Duck Duck Go works just fine on my desktop and phone. I like being able to support them without feeling like I'm taking a hit in the process.
I like DDG, I use DDG and have been for years, but about 50% of the time I wind up having to search with google because DDG's search quality just isn't that good yet. It's like the Apple Maps of search. So close, but far enough from 'good' that you can't quite abandon the big G yet.
This has been my experience with DDG.
It's just not good enough as a go-to for me. I still try it every now and then to see if its better and it still isn't.
Plus for some reason Google just seems to know me and knows what I am looking for.
I had to find a manual for a older piece of safety equipment. A device used to measure oxygen levels I've a room. It's never worked since I've worked their and they finally wanted to get the system fixed. Week I've knew nothing about the system and had to start figuring it out. The manual for it was a start.
Well doing a Google search I had the 100-pages of worthless crap. There was one link that had it, but it was as singe weird book site I've never heard of. It would show the manual in a book type layout. I sucked to look through and I couldn't just download a copy. It wouldn't let me.
So I tried DuckDuckGo and guess what, the very first link obj the page had a link right to a pdf copy of the manual and Inc was able to download it, print it out, put it in a binder for a hard copy, and in the end I fixed the system and added another sensor to expand the system. After I calibrated the system with special calibration gas, the system now works perfect!!!
So in this case, Google was completely worthless, and DuckDuckGo saved the day!!!. It's now my default search. Rarely do I ever have to try a Google search and generally still can't find what I'm looking for. How things are out of the U.S.? But the service works great for me.
Is that the only time that you've found something with DDG and didn't with Google? You've mentioned the same story several times but not any others. In my use of DDG the results have often closely mirrored Bing, sometimes exactly the same.
Is that the only time that you've found something with DDG and didn't with Google? You've mentioned the same story several times but not any others. In my use of DDG the results have often closely mirrored Bing, sometimes exactly the same.
The point is Google s NOT perfect. I use DDG almost 100%. The last time I had to do a Google Search because DDG couldn't find what i wanted has been a while. Then when I tried Google, it had no better luck then DDG did.
As for Bing, I don't know the last like I used that service. I like DDG because it almost always finds what I want and it's not searving me up a bunch of Ad's and then tracking me from place to place. Google does that!!! I know you're your a fandroid and just love everything Google, and that's fine. I use Gmail, but I have have no need to be all in Google. I use a little Apple, a Little Google, some Microsoft, and others and Mix them all up.
I use DDG for about 98% of my search any more and it blows away Google 70% of the time when I do a side by side test. Presentation to results, DDG is a better search engine for me.
Is that the only time that you've found something with DDG and didn't with Google? You've mentioned the same story several times but not any others. In my use of DDG the results have often closely mirrored Bing, sometimes exactly the same.
The point is Google s NOT perfect. I use DDG almost 100%. The last time I had to do a Google Search because DDG couldn't find what i wanted has been a while. Then when I tried Google, it had no better luck then DDG did.
As for Bing, I don't know the last like I used that service. I like DDG because it almost always finds what I want and it's not searving me up a bunch of Ad's and then tracking me from place to place. Google does that!!! I know you're your a fandroid and just love everything Google, and that's fine. I use Gmail, but I have have no need to be all in Google. I use a little Apple, a Little Google, some Microsoft, and others and Mix them all up.
One of the most interesting things about this thread is how different everyone's experiences really are with the different search engines.
For me personally, Google works pretty darned well. DDG is not horrible, but I agree with @Gatorguy and would put it at around the level of Bing in my personal experience. For me neither DDG or Bing are my go-to search day in and day out. Neither consistently gives me the results I am looking for like Google does.
This is going to sound crazy and you can laugh at me all you want, but I do like going to the Bing homepage to see their daily picture. And what they choose to select as relevant news items. I don't know if those news items are coming from Yahoo or if they are trending topics, but it's interesting to me what they choose to put in that feed for some odd reason.
Bottom line is, it's great there are some choices out there in order to suit everybody. Because like you said, (forgive me for sort of putting words in your mouth a little bit here) we need to be able to use a little of this and a little of that and mix them up to suit our needs.
I also don't disagree with what some folks here have said, that Apple should buy DDG. Competition is good and that might light a little bit of a fire under Googles butt. Just as long as Apple doesn't remove my ability to make Google my default in iOS.
DDG on Mac, Google for mobile atm. One feature Google has over the others is filters, maybe I'm missing it but filter by time, say pages updated in the last week is very useful.
Is that the only time that you've found something with DDG and didn't with Google? You've mentioned the same story several times but not any others. In my use of DDG the results have often closely mirrored Bing, sometimes exactly the same.
I find DDG simply presents its information much much better than Google. Google has become a cluster F of links, adds and spam to filter through.
DDG is very US centric (last time I tried it which admittedly was a while back)
In which case what you meant to write is that DDG was very US centric.
No doubt Google used to offer the best search engine. In their quest to Hoover every little snippet of your private life seeking to maximize advertising revenue above all else, they have fallen behind in search and can no longer be considered the best.
The biggest reason I rarely used DDG is that there is no way to filter results by date! At least now by going the bang route you can access Google's date filter, but all that really does is serve as an encrypted front end for a Google search. Not that that's not a good thing, but DDG's value as a search engine based on its own muscle, with no date filter, is very limited.
No one said it needed tracking to make profits, but if you want to make MASSIVE profits (like Google has done) and encourage an enormous number of investors, then yes, you likely do.
Comments
!w searches Wikipedia btw.
I find DDG is good about providing wikipedia answers right in a clear format at the top of the page for most anything i want it for already, but thanks! Any more super useful bangs?
I nuked my Google account a few years ago, the world didn't end.
Google was good when they came out of Stanford, I was using and promoting them then, something changed so I got rid of them they became too mercenary with their results.
It is extremely rare that I need to use their search.
I get the odd nag screen begging me to sign in, I ignore them I don't need Google.
I have 100% conviction that Apple is developing their own branding search engine, and it could very well be in a mature development state. It makes absolute sense, and they can advertise its privacy and integration benefits. Setting it as the default would be a massive blow to Google, as most mobile usage is done through iOS. But I'm sure they won't release it until its something at least somewhat comparable to Google, to avoid the Maps garbage. As long as it looks and feels vaguely similar, 90% of people won't even bother changing it from the default.
Without changing my default engine, just add "!g" to the search term and you'll get Google's results for the same term.
...almost. You get the anonymized Google results, for better or worse. If a user searches for "router reviews" when logged in, one user is going to get networking results, where another user might get woodworking tools, based on what Google infers about the user's interests.
If you use an ad blocker and respect their business model, *whitelist* them.
And I believe we should respect and encourage respectful advertising separated from tracking.
smh.
No malice intended. But it was selfish of me to make a reference to DDG's in-joke at your expense. My apologies.
I had to find a manual for a older piece of safety equipment. A device used to measure oxygen levels I've a room. It's never worked since I've worked their and they finally wanted to get the system fixed. Week I've knew nothing about the system and had to start figuring it out. The manual for it was a start.
Well doing a Google search I had the 100-pages of worthless crap. There was one link that had it, but it was as singe weird book site I've never heard of. It would show the manual in a book type layout. I sucked to look through and I couldn't just download a copy. It wouldn't let me.
So I tried DuckDuckGo and guess what, the very first link obj the page had a link right to a pdf copy of the manual and Inc was able to download it, print it out, put it in a binder for a hard copy, and in the end I fixed the system and added another sensor to expand the system. After I calibrated the system with special calibration gas, the system now works perfect!!!
So in this case, Google was completely worthless, and DuckDuckGo saved the day!!!. It's now my default search. Rarely do I ever have to try a Google search and generally still can't find what I'm looking for. How things are out of the U.S.? But the service works great for me.
Duck Duck Go works just fine on my desktop and phone. I like being able to support them without feeling like I'm taking a hit in the process.
I like DDG, I use DDG and have been for years, but about 50% of the time I wind up having to search with google because DDG's search quality just isn't that good yet. It's like the Apple Maps of search. So close, but far enough from 'good' that you can't quite abandon the big G yet.
This has been my experience with DDG.
It's just not good enough as a go-to for me. I still try it every now and then to see if its better and it still isn't.
Plus for some reason Google just seems to know me and knows what I am looking for.
Is that the only time that you've found something with DDG and didn't with Google? You've mentioned the same story several times but not any others. In my use of DDG the results have often closely mirrored Bing, sometimes exactly the same.
The point is Google s NOT perfect. I use DDG almost 100%. The last time I had to do a Google Search because DDG couldn't find what i wanted has been a while. Then when I tried Google, it had no better luck then DDG did.
As for Bing, I don't know the last like I used that service. I like DDG because it almost always finds what I want and it's not searving me up a bunch of Ad's and then tracking me from place to place. Google does that!!! I know you're your a fandroid and just love everything Google, and that's fine. I use Gmail, but I have have no need to be all in Google. I use a little Apple, a Little Google, some Microsoft, and others and Mix them all up.
Is that the only time that you've found something with DDG and didn't with Google? You've mentioned the same story several times but not any others. In my use of DDG the results have often closely mirrored Bing, sometimes exactly the same.
The point is Google s NOT perfect. I use DDG almost 100%. The last time I had to do a Google Search because DDG couldn't find what i wanted has been a while. Then when I tried Google, it had no better luck then DDG did.
As for Bing, I don't know the last like I used that service. I like DDG because it almost always finds what I want and it's not searving me up a bunch of Ad's and then tracking me from place to place. Google does that!!! I know you're your a fandroid and just love everything Google, and that's fine. I use Gmail, but I have have no need to be all in Google. I use a little Apple, a Little Google, some Microsoft, and others and Mix them all up.
One of the most interesting things about this thread is how different everyone's experiences really are with the different search engines.
For me personally, Google works pretty darned well. DDG is not horrible, but I agree with @Gatorguy and would put it at around the level of Bing in my personal experience. For me neither DDG or Bing are my go-to search day in and day out. Neither consistently gives me the results I am looking for like Google does.
This is going to sound crazy and you can laugh at me all you want, but I do like going to the Bing homepage to see their daily picture. And what they choose to select as relevant news items. I don't know if those news items are coming from Yahoo or if they are trending topics, but it's interesting to me what they choose to put in that feed for some odd reason.
Bottom line is, it's great there are some choices out there in order to suit everybody. Because like you said, (forgive me for sort of putting words in your mouth a little bit here) we need to be able to use a little of this and a little of that and mix them up to suit our needs.
I also don't disagree with what some folks here have said, that Apple should buy DDG. Competition is good and that might light a little bit of a fire under Googles butt. Just as long as Apple doesn't remove my ability to make Google my default in iOS.
Gatorguy says that Google loves you and only has your best interests at heart.
They are not, in any way, shape, or form, motivated by this thing that has always generated profit for them.
Stay away from those other search engines. Use Google. You don't have to worry about anything.
And you don't want to disobey Gatorguy, do you?
One feature Google has over the others is filters, maybe I'm missing it but filter by time, say pages updated in the last week is very useful.
I find DDG simply presents its information much much better than Google. Google has become a cluster F of links, adds and spam to filter through.
DDG on Mac, Google for mobile atm.
One feature Google has over the others is filters, maybe I'm missing it but filter by time, say pages updated in the last week is very useful.
Bing has some good filters, too. It will also allow you to search for results by time/recent: all, past 24 hours, past week, past month.
DDG is very US centric (last time I tried it which admittedly was a while back)
In which case what you meant to write is that DDG was very US centric.
No doubt Google used to offer the best search engine. In their quest to Hoover every little snippet of your private life seeking to maximize advertising revenue above all else, they have fallen behind in search and can no longer be considered the best.
The biggest reason I rarely used DDG is that there is no way to filter results by date! At least now by going the bang route you can access Google's date filter, but all that really does is serve as an encrypted front end for a Google search. Not that that's not a good thing, but DDG's value as a search engine based on its own muscle, with no date filter, is very limited.
No one said it needed tracking to make profits, but if you want to make MASSIVE profits (like Google has done) and encourage an enormous number of investors, then yes, you likely do.