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I bet if you forced yourself to use Bing, and weren't turned off by its look and feel, you'd find it to be an equal replacement. In fact, I don't have to bet:

by kzhahou 11y ago

I bet if you forced yourself to use Bing, and weren't turned off by its look and feel, you'd find it to be an equal replacement. In fact, I don't have to bet: both companies have detailed metrics that consistently show them within a few percent of each other on precision, recall, etc.

bigiain 11y ago
I suspect this in not only true, but a highly likely factor in whatever "replaces" both Google and Bing. Prediction: some near-future Snowden document release will catapult DuckDuckGo or some other privacy-oriented search alternative into the limelight in a hockeystick curve growth kind of way. Maybe something that proves the NSA is firehose sharing de-anonymised Google/Bing search data with HealthCare Companies or the Insurance Industry or the IRS, and that there's widespread punitive action going on based on simplistic or poorly thought out responses to people's search history (people being denied health insurance because they did a few too many Google searches when their mother was diagnosed with cancer, or car insurance rates being raised across the board for people who search wine labels online...) All of a sudden someone who's "good enough" at search, but has TOR hidden service endpoints and nothing associated with them that comes under Five Eyes legal jurisdictions is going to look worthwhile switching to.
- icebraining 11y ago
  I'm willing to bet that no significant (say, 10%) portion of the Google/Bing userbase will switch to an alternative engine in the next five years, regardless of whatever documents may be released. If some revelation like that were to happen, people would be outraged, they'd demand regulation, and meanwhile they'd continue to use Google/Bing; maybe some would switch to Incognito windows, but that's about it, in my opinion.
V-2 11y ago
As far as search results accuracy (and usefulness) go, Bing vs. Google in the US is a whole different story than Bing vs. Google elsewhere.

by kzhahou 11y ago

bigiain 11y ago

I suspect this in not only true, but a highly likely factor in whatever "replaces" both Google and Bing. Prediction: some near-future Snowden document release will catapult DuckDuckGo or some other privacy-oriented search alternative into the limelight in a hockeystick curve growth kind of way. Maybe something that proves the NSA is firehose sharing de-anonymised Google/Bing search data with HealthCare Companies or the Insurance Industry or the IRS, and that there's widespread punitive action going on based on simplistic or poorly thought out responses to people's search history (people being denied health insurance because they did a few too many Google searches when their mother was diagnosed with cancer, or car insurance rates being raised across the board for people who search wine labels online...) All of a sudden someone who's "good enough" at search, but has TOR hidden service endpoints and nothing associated with them that comes under Five Eyes legal jurisdictions is going to look worthwhile switching to.

icebraining 11y ago
I'm willing to bet that no significant (say, 10%) portion of the Google/Bing userbase will switch to an alternative engine in the next five years, regardless of whatever documents may be released. If some revelation like that were to happen, people would be outraged, they'd demand regulation, and meanwhile they'd continue to use Google/Bing; maybe some would switch to Incognito windows, but that's about it, in my opinion.

V-2 11y ago

As far as search results accuracy (and usefulness) go, Bing vs. Google in the US is a whole different story than Bing vs. Google elsewhere.