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I think that Google's dominance has almost nothing to do with technology and almost everything to do with customer lock-in. For me, duckduckgo.com is as good a

I think that Google's dominance has almost nothing to do with technology and almost everything to do with customer lock-in. For me, duckduckgo.com is as good as Google but I still use Google because it's the default search engine for Chrome's address bar - And that's where I do all my searches from these days. If Duckduckgo made their own browser which was of the same quality as Chrome then I would definitely consider using it and switching to Duckduckgo for search as well.

tonysdg 8y ago
Out of curiosity, what prevents you from using Firefox? It allows you to specify a default search engine -- which you can set directly to DDG.
- hk__2 8y ago
  > Out of curiosity, what prevents you from using Firefox? It allows you to specify a default search engine -- which you can set directly to DDG. Chrome allows you as well.
dcow 8y ago
I use FF and DuckDuckGo. It's super easy.
- arminiusreturns 8y ago
  I also heavily use the cli ddg search. Might try that out for anyone else who lives in the terminal.
tEMporality7 8y ago
I used to wonder why search engine companies care about which engine is the default in a browser because it only takes a few seconds to change it but now I know why. People are lazy :/
- still_grokking 8y ago
  There's more to it than laziness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_effect
- SllX 8y ago
  It gets worse. I remember I had a friend that had a piece of spyware that set his default search engine to something else. At first glance I didn't realize it was a piece of spyware because all his searches looked like normal searches, albeit on a generic looking page. I wondered why he didn't switch to Google or something else at the time and it used to annoy me whenever I was using his desktop for anything. Then I took a look into it and found out that he actually couldn't set his default search engine through his browser anymore, in Firefox or Chrome actually. It was a browser extension. For that entire time there was a piece of spyware on his computer probably watching all of his browsing that he probably could have figured out about himself, if he wasn't too lazy to just switch his search engine. Once I looked into it, it took all of five minutes (if that) to figure out what was happening and remove the problem, and he's not exactly tech illiterate. He literally just didn't care or want to take the time to switch his search engine. That's a data point. Just one, anecdotal data point, but take it how you will.
nostrademons 8y ago
Could also just use Tor Browser - it's Firefox modified for privacy, all running through Tor, with search defaulted to DDG. Actually works pretty well as a drop-in system, and you can't beat the privacy. Ironically, my biggest complaint is the search - a number of queries that I'd expect to "just work" on Google, DDG really struggles with. There actually is a noticeable difference in quality between them.
smileysteve 8y ago
You know you can change where the browser bar searches; In chrome, in Safari, and in Firefox, and Edge.
- zjaffee 8y ago
  There is a huge benefit to being the default, if that wasn't the case google wouldn't pay all the companies they do billions of dollars a year to be the default.
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  That wasn't true until recently on Chrome/Android, and seems to be a direct response to EU actions.
magicalhippo 8y ago
For me it's because with Google I don't need to go to page 5 to find interesting results. I've tried to use DuckDuckGo several times, each time I've quickly found myself trawling page after page of results, reverted to Google and found the stuff I was after on page one.
- yellowcherry 8y ago
  I have exactly the opposite experience, time after time after time. The one area where Google search provides me with a notably better experience is in image search.
- monkeydust 8y ago
  100% same I wanted to love ddg but it's just not as good
  - amelius 8y ago
    If only they implemented "!g" as a simple button, I'd use DDG more often. Typing "!g" requires 6 touchscreen actions on mobile :/
  - golfer 8y ago
    DDG doesn't have stock prices, movie listings, or any of the useful "onebox" type information that Google has. It's just not as useful IMHO.
- simias 8y ago
  That used to be true for me but I've used ddg as my main search engine for a couple of years and I find myself using "!g" less and less. Actually you made me realize that I haven't used it in a while, probably weeks (and I've had a very busy couple of weeks with tons of opportunities to look for stuff online). It's not because duckduckgo finds everything I want, it's because I've noticed that when ddg doesn't find something usually google doesn't either. Also whenever I end up on google now (generally because I forgot to change the search engine after a fresh install) I find the website cluttered which is a shame because it used to be in Google's DNA to keep the search page simple. For instance I just made a completely random search on Google just to see what it would look like: https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20180727-235325_tou.png https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20180727-235325_tou.png What the hell is all of that stuff? If I wanted to browse the stock exchange or google maps I would. "People also search for" well good for them I guess.
cma 8y ago
If that happened Google would probably ban Android phones that use Google apps from using third party browsers (like they already did for third party search providers). Then your tabs wouldn't be able to sync with mobile.
eksemplar 8y ago
DuckDuckGo is terrible for non English speakers though.
vongomben 8y ago
Or you can use Firefox

tonysdg 8y ago

Out of curiosity, what prevents you from using Firefox? It allows you to specify a default search engine -- which you can set directly to DDG.

hk__2 8y ago
> Out of curiosity, what prevents you from using Firefox? It allows you to specify a default search engine -- which you can set directly to DDG. Chrome allows you as well.

dcow 8y ago

I use FF and DuckDuckGo. It's super easy.

arminiusreturns 8y ago
I also heavily use the cli ddg search. Might try that out for anyone else who lives in the terminal.

tEMporality7 8y ago

I used to wonder why search engine companies care about which engine is the default in a browser because it only takes a few seconds to change it but now I know why. People are lazy :/

still_grokking 8y ago
There's more to it than laziness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_quo_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_effect
SllX 8y ago
It gets worse. I remember I had a friend that had a piece of spyware that set his default search engine to something else. At first glance I didn't realize it was a piece of spyware because all his searches looked like normal searches, albeit on a generic looking page. I wondered why he didn't switch to Google or something else at the time and it used to annoy me whenever I was using his desktop for anything. Then I took a look into it and found out that he actually couldn't set his default search engine through his browser anymore, in Firefox or Chrome actually. It was a browser extension. For that entire time there was a piece of spyware on his computer probably watching all of his browsing that he probably could have figured out about himself, if he wasn't too lazy to just switch his search engine. Once I looked into it, it took all of five minutes (if that) to figure out what was happening and remove the problem, and he's not exactly tech illiterate. He literally just didn't care or want to take the time to switch his search engine. That's a data point. Just one, anecdotal data point, but take it how you will.

nostrademons 8y ago

Could also just use Tor Browser - it's Firefox modified for privacy, all running through Tor, with search defaulted to DDG. Actually works pretty well as a drop-in system, and you can't beat the privacy. Ironically, my biggest complaint is the search - a number of queries that I'd expect to "just work" on Google, DDG really struggles with. There actually is a noticeable difference in quality between them.

smileysteve 8y ago

You know you can change where the browser bar searches; In chrome, in Safari, and in Firefox, and Edge.

zjaffee 8y ago
There is a huge benefit to being the default, if that wasn't the case google wouldn't pay all the companies they do billions of dollars a year to be the default.
dredmorbius 8y ago
That wasn't true until recently on Chrome/Android, and seems to be a direct response to EU actions.

magicalhippo 8y ago

For me it's because with Google I don't need to go to page 5 to find interesting results. I've tried to use DuckDuckGo several times, each time I've quickly found myself trawling page after page of results, reverted to Google and found the stuff I was after on page one.

yellowcherry 8y ago
I have exactly the opposite experience, time after time after time. The one area where Google search provides me with a notably better experience is in image search.
monkeydust 8y ago
100% same I wanted to love ddg but it's just not as good
- amelius 8y ago
  If only they implemented "!g" as a simple button, I'd use DDG more often. Typing "!g" requires 6 touchscreen actions on mobile :/
- golfer 8y ago
  DDG doesn't have stock prices, movie listings, or any of the useful "onebox" type information that Google has. It's just not as useful IMHO.
simias 8y ago
That used to be true for me but I've used ddg as my main search engine for a couple of years and I find myself using "!g" less and less. Actually you made me realize that I haven't used it in a while, probably weeks (and I've had a very busy couple of weeks with tons of opportunities to look for stuff online). It's not because duckduckgo finds everything I want, it's because I've noticed that when ddg doesn't find something usually google doesn't either. Also whenever I end up on google now (generally because I forgot to change the search engine after a fresh install) I find the website cluttered which is a shame because it used to be in Google's DNA to keep the search page simple. For instance I just made a completely random search on Google just to see what it would look like: https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20180727-235325_tou.png https://svkt.org/~simias/up/20180727-235325_tou.png What the hell is all of that stuff? If I wanted to browse the stock exchange or google maps I would. "People also search for" well good for them I guess.

cma 8y ago

If that happened Google would probably ban Android phones that use Google apps from using third party browsers (like they already did for third party search providers). Then your tabs wouldn't be able to sync with mobile.

eksemplar 8y ago

DuckDuckGo is terrible for non English speakers though.

vongomben 8y ago

Or you can use Firefox