8 ms·

FWIW, I work for Google (not on google.com), and would definitely fit into the "geek" category, and I still assumed you were talking about an OSS search engine.

z0mbie42 7y ago
Hi, currently we absolutely do not plan to create a search engine: it requires too much resources for self hosting, I think we currently have great option for all the spectrum (From Google search to DuckDuckGo), and because an open source search engine will be tricked by all kind of nasty SEO Experts and it will be very hard to promote actually good Content. I dared the Google comparison thinking about it's productivity suit, and because they have an app for all the need of our life. At an extraordinary price, even if it cost noting. Productivity is the current foundation, but you can think having a Bloom open source tractor in some years :)
- fghtr 7y ago
  >great option for all the spectrum (From Google search to DuckDuckGo) You probably mean from SearX to YaCy.
  - snazz 7y ago
    SearX is a meta-search engine, which means it isn't truly its own search engine. Still useful and open-source. I'd actually recommend the Bloom people to host their own SearX instance to cover search needs.
    - Kaiyou 7y ago
      You say this like DDG isn't a meta-search engine... everything (for the English language) except for Google and Bing is a meta-search engine.
      - fghtr 7y ago
        YaCy is not a meta-search engine.
        Kaiyou 7y ago
        Neither is wiby.me Both don't cover average use cases.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- chabes 7y ago
  “Productivity is the current foundation, but you can think having a Bloom open source tractor in some years” Open source agriculture has so much potential for good. I’m surprised it isn’t more of a thing already
  - z0mbie42 7y ago
    Hi, I totally agree. I think one of the reasons, is that people interested in agriculture are not the startup-geek who think scalability first but rather people more interested in collaboration and little community projects.
- incompatible 7y ago
  https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ is/was working on designs for things like tractors.
- neospice 7y ago
  I think it's clear after reading your exchange with OC that you're not planning to take on Google search with Bloom. However what I think the commenter you're replying to is suggesting is that by calling yourself an open source 'Google' you're giving people the false impression that you are focused on search because when people think of Google the first thing they think of is search. Perhaps you might consider something like free and open source 'Google Suite' or 'Google Apps' instead?
  - c0vfefe 7y ago
    Right; is "a free and open source 'Google'" a company? Because that's what Google is.
- em-bee 7y ago
  if i'd think that we have enough alternative search options, i'd have ignored this topic completely. i clicked because i disagree, because we do need more search options. that said, we desperately need what bloom provides too. i just would not have recognized it from that title.
- zrm 7y ago
  > and because an open source search engine will be tricked by all kind of nasty SEO Experts and it will be very hard to promote actually good Content. FWIW I suspect that would be the opposite, because if it was free software then you would end up with many forks of the code that decides how to prioritize results, which would multiply the effort required by SEO spammers to target you. Meanwhile you would start with far fewer users and be that much less of a worthwhile target for that reason. And by the time you're big enough to be worth targeting, you have the resources to spend addressing it.
- navaati 7y ago
  Then perhaps be more ambitious even and brand yourself a Alphabet competitor ;)
- SolarFreq 7y ago
  Hi, are you planning to implement email? I want to move my radio station away from google so badly, and if you can add email hosting, even just a pop server I can start pointing my new address to you. As it is, I want to sign up without having to use another service (which is going to be google, let's face it) and it would be great to have this all stored in one place.
  - stOneskull 7y ago
    Email hosting would be a good idea. That's how Zoho gets people in.
    - SolarFreq 7y ago
      Honestly, even without the search function, I think this is one of the most base level functions of Google's toolkit. Everything else is just convenient
      - snlnspc 7y ago
        Agreed. This seems like a neat project but mail and search are the only things I'd be really looking for in a free and open source Google.
    - solarkraft 7y ago
      My E-Mail is hosted by Zoho, but I use none of their other services. Oops.
  - z0mbie42 7y ago
    Hi, Email is currently not planned, because it's not easy (IMAP, POP...) to do it correctly and securely. But as many users seems interested, I may add it to the roadmap :)

z0mbie42 7y ago

Hi, currently we absolutely do not plan to create a search engine: it requires too much resources for self hosting, I think we currently have great option for all the spectrum (From Google search to DuckDuckGo), and because an open source search engine will be tricked by all kind of nasty SEO Experts and it will be very hard to promote actually good Content. I dared the Google comparison thinking about it's productivity suit, and because they have an app for all the need of our life. At an extraordinary price, even if it cost noting. Productivity is the current foundation, but you can think having a Bloom open source tractor in some years :)

fghtr 7y ago
>great option for all the spectrum (From Google search to DuckDuckGo) You probably mean from SearX to YaCy.
- snazz 7y ago
  SearX is a meta-search engine, which means it isn't truly its own search engine. Still useful and open-source. I'd actually recommend the Bloom people to host their own SearX instance to cover search needs.
  - Kaiyou 7y ago
    You say this like DDG isn't a meta-search engine... everything (for the English language) except for Google and Bing is a meta-search engine.
    - fghtr 7y ago
      YaCy is not a meta-search engine.
      - Kaiyou 7y ago
        Neither is wiby.me Both don't cover average use cases.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
chabes 7y ago
“Productivity is the current foundation, but you can think having a Bloom open source tractor in some years” Open source agriculture has so much potential for good. I’m surprised it isn’t more of a thing already
- z0mbie42 7y ago
  Hi, I totally agree. I think one of the reasons, is that people interested in agriculture are not the startup-geek who think scalability first but rather people more interested in collaboration and little community projects.
incompatible 7y ago
https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ is/was working on designs for things like tractors.
neospice 7y ago
I think it's clear after reading your exchange with OC that you're not planning to take on Google search with Bloom. However what I think the commenter you're replying to is suggesting is that by calling yourself an open source 'Google' you're giving people the false impression that you are focused on search because when people think of Google the first thing they think of is search. Perhaps you might consider something like free and open source 'Google Suite' or 'Google Apps' instead?
- c0vfefe 7y ago
  Right; is "a free and open source 'Google'" a company? Because that's what Google is.
em-bee 7y ago
if i'd think that we have enough alternative search options, i'd have ignored this topic completely. i clicked because i disagree, because we do need more search options. that said, we desperately need what bloom provides too. i just would not have recognized it from that title.
zrm 7y ago
> and because an open source search engine will be tricked by all kind of nasty SEO Experts and it will be very hard to promote actually good Content. FWIW I suspect that would be the opposite, because if it was free software then you would end up with many forks of the code that decides how to prioritize results, which would multiply the effort required by SEO spammers to target you. Meanwhile you would start with far fewer users and be that much less of a worthwhile target for that reason. And by the time you're big enough to be worth targeting, you have the resources to spend addressing it.
navaati 7y ago
Then perhaps be more ambitious even and brand yourself a Alphabet competitor ;)
SolarFreq 7y ago
Hi, are you planning to implement email? I want to move my radio station away from google so badly, and if you can add email hosting, even just a pop server I can start pointing my new address to you. As it is, I want to sign up without having to use another service (which is going to be google, let's face it) and it would be great to have this all stored in one place.
- stOneskull 7y ago
  Email hosting would be a good idea. That's how Zoho gets people in.
  - SolarFreq 7y ago
    Honestly, even without the search function, I think this is one of the most base level functions of Google's toolkit. Everything else is just convenient
    - snlnspc 7y ago
      Agreed. This seems like a neat project but mail and search are the only things I'd be really looking for in a free and open source Google.
  - solarkraft 7y ago
    My E-Mail is hosted by Zoho, but I use none of their other services. Oops.
- z0mbie42 7y ago
  Hi, Email is currently not planned, because it's not easy (IMAP, POP...) to do it correctly and securely. But as many users seems interested, I may add it to the roadmap :)