this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023

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The end of the Googleverse (www.theverge.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 109 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 11 months ago

It’s not just in your head.

I also degoogled some time back when it really occurred to me how much data they had on me. That’s not good for anyone but Google. And there are great alternatives for most things.

Also their inconsistency with their services (abandoning projects they initially promote heavily) just feels insecure and annoying.

I still use their search engine though, the alternatives aren’t there yet. But I use it less and less because it’s so riddled with affiliate sites. And I do use Youtube, it is the best streaming service despite its own set of problems.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago

I'm probably from a younger generation, because as long as I have been around google has never felt like a choice for me. Instead, it was always the default or mandated by the organization I am a part of (university, other web services...). It's kinda a fight to get out of the google grasp.

Hearing you (and I guess the article towards the end) talk about google as not a monstrosity gives me hope that maybe other companies can push through and usurp google's "defaultness". It'd also be great if it was not another giant like microsoft giving competition.

I'd love to be able to a make a non-google choice and not feel like an outsider.

[–] lustrum 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yeah. I hate how stuck in I am in the google system. I've been migrating away too and ensuring whatever system I use next doesn't tie me in or make it a pain to leave.

I'm struggling with a google photos alternative though. I'm currently just ignoring the problem and periodically using google takeout to make sure I have a local copy of all the photos.

The issue I have is my GF and parents are on my family account. So I use about 50GB of google photos and they use about 100GB combined. And I pay for the 200GB tier.

We're all stuck now and you just need to pay indefinitely.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It might not solve all your needs, or your use case specifically, but I've got myself a Synology NAS and that has been a solid alternative to Google Photos for me.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hey, sorry to hijack the thread, but I just got myself a Synology NAS and have been taking some time to learn more about it before moving real data onto it. Are you using those Synology apps (like Synology Photos) for all this? Which provider (if any) are you using for offsite backups?

I've grown wary of any cloud service that requires a custom login, even if they offer awesome features now, because of the potential they will get enshittified in the future. But I assume that Synology has already made their money off of me when I bought the box....

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I'm using the apps: both Drive and Photos, at least. Works very well for me. For backup, I do a physical backup daily to an attached external hard drive, and weekly to a remote cloud option

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I second this, we have had a Synology NAS for over 10 years (i degoogled a long time ago) and have had virtually no problems. I did need to transition to the new "Photos" app which was a bit annoying when we upgraded (after 7 years), but I know that none of our kids baby pics, our wedding pics, our life in general is being scrapped or stored on a server with a terms of service agreement that we basically have no control over.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I've been considering switching to a Synology NAS - how do you feel the security holds up for that?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you're somewhat tech savvy, look into Nextcloud. I'm running a home server with 4 tb of storage that I share with my wife and adult kids. There are also iOs and android apps that you can use to add/delete/share files. All free and open source.

[–] lustrum 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I do have a home server and wanted to try Nextcloud but im not a big fan of exposing stuff to the internet for remote use (I prefer VPN).

How does nextcloud work with photos?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Spot on. And as a result I have moved as much as possible away from Google myself. Email, Drive, Photos, Search etc. I'm happy

[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (6 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Pretty much. The reason Google's search results were so good was because of the information they had on you and on other users who made similar searches. I'm not advocating for DDG to start tracking users, though. But it'll be hard for them to have a "Google-like" search experience (single search bar with no other parameters) without that kind of data.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I completely disagree. Their results have started decreasing in value and accuracy the more they tie them into their profile of you. Google was most useful when it showed you what you searched for. Many of the problems with their results now stem from it showing you what it thinks you want, rather than showing you what you asked for. The rest of the problem is it showing you what is profitable, rather than what you asked for.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I think it's because their profile of "you" has gotten more narrow as it has gotten better at figuring you out. It has started making assumptions about what you want instead of recommending things others want.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Agreed. And in a way, it is also a contributing factor to how polarizing internet-based discussion has become. Rather than show you the most cited websites for answering a political question, it's going to use its profile of "you" to show you something you're more likely to engage with.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, it's a massive issue with Google. It just doesn't serve the content you need anymore, and rather shows what it thinks you'll want.

Google is great at finding products. DuckDuckGo isn't perfect either, but it's better at neutral information than Google.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't want it to make assumptions, I want it to show me what I told it to show me and not show me what I specifically told it not to. They've been ignoring the negative operator quite a lot lately.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Google immediately jumped ahead in search when it started by having a simple webpage and using PageRank. This was a while before there were even Gmail accounts and all the tracking we're given now.

At this point I'd settle for a search company that doesn't care to track you, uses general (not specific) predictive search, implements Boolean search, and isn't diminished in quality by SEO.

That last criterion is the hardest one. It might not even be feasible.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Ah I was just going to their website and it was refusing to load the page. But then when I tried it on Chrome it was fine.

I'll have a play around later, cheers

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

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.

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[–] Corkyskog 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I switched full time to bing last month and have so far not missed google at all.

I’d rather not just go to another mega corp, but the rest that I tried out just didn’t get the results I was looking for.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Kagi is pretty great. But I haven't used Google Search in a few years, so I can't properly judge.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Brave search uses a different index, so I like searching it first since it will give me significantly different results

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Ddg is driving me crazy with correcting what i type to give more generalized results. Searx is my new favorite. It's not just a google reskin.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Just use multiple search engines. The less of a monopoly there is, the better.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The first step is to install docker

I appreciate the effort, but I'm a normie, so nah ...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Your on Lemmy not a normie.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

You can always use one of the publicly hosted instances.

I would personally recommend having your own. Since then you don't have to trust another party, and can customize it to your needs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Saving this to try later. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

You're welcome!

I wrote a second part on how to add custom filters and redirects (to filter out SEO junk).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

This has been my solution as well. Searx by default, ddg when necessary, wiby for fun, resulthunter as a backup, google when all else fails.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Anyone have some good solutions for replacing gmail?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

I switched to Proton for email, cloud, and VPN.

https://protonvpn.com/pricing

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Another vote for protonmail. It's honestly not as good as gmail, but it works well enough for what I need.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Exchange online.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Forgive my ignorance if this is wrong, but Exchange is just Microsoft right? I’d rather not migrate away from Google into another Google.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months 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.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I’ve been using Kagi. It works well. I like it. Costs money, but that’s a positive in my book.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I recently switched to Kagi and the difference is astounding. I knew it was bad but it’s just crazy, especially on mobile. The ability to personally change a domains ranking in your search results is a game changer too, now my results aren’t polluted with Amazon results as an example.

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