It looks like the ex-DDG employee got the details wrong, and read the slides backwards.

    • cosmic_slate@dmv.social
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      1 year ago

      I understand that you may have qualms with Google but this is a very strange take. Google is the default search engine for a number of browsers and is a very, very common household name.

      • TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        I mean, edge is the default browser and it’s not like you’d be crazy to say “l’m surprised people use edge as their internet browser”

        But yeah, it’s not surprising people use Google, it is surprising people don’t know alternatives are not horrible anymore and Google generally is.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          IDK, I do think it’s crazy to say you’re surprised people use Edge. As you said, it’s the default on Windows, so a very large number of Windows users will be using it because they haven’t bothered to change the default.

          I guess I could see it as hyperbole, but not as an actual, serious belief.

      • lilcs420@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I know, but I use vpn when searching and puzzles every search made me leave years ago. Im aware most use google.

    • ThatHermanoGuy@midwest.social
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      1 year ago

      As opposed to what? I’ve tried to switch to DDG so many times, but its lack of explicit phrase searching makes it practically useless. I just end up using g! all the time until I finally just give up and switch back.

      • The Doctor@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Yeah… if I search for Terraform stuff on the Big G, I get shit-tons of LLM-generated crapsites. If I search for the TF stuff I’m working on at DDG, I don’t get anything.

    • stifle867@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Most people don’t understand how bad Google has become. It’s like not noticing how tall you’ve grown until your grandmother points it out.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean, it doesn’t really matter how correct the general sentiment is if the article still gets a key detail or two wrong. The incorrect details still need a retraction, and if they’re the main reasoning for the general conclusion… well, it’s much more attractive to have an article with actual reasons than, “it feels like Google search sucks.”.

        • stifle867@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          I’m not sure what your comment has to do with mine because I wasn’t discussing anything in the article, simply replying to someone else’s comment.

          To be clear I understand that the article was incorrect, and I had my suspicions when I first saw it too (which I posted in another comment).

          My comment is in reference to Google Search’s general degradation of user experience and quality of search results over the many years. Sponsored results that are hard for the average people to notice are sponsored, and they take up half the screen. SEO spam, quora spam, specific searches returning general results, etc. There is still a wealth of organic and original content out there. I just never find it through search.