Best Search Engine?

[JAC]

I used a mixture of https://www.google.com, https://duckduckgo.com and most recently https://www.startpage.com.

I hate the Captcha’s when using Google, as I mostly use a VPN I do sometimes get these, I use DuckDuckGo and a chat on Reddit suggested to use StartPage which I’m enjoying using, a few of the comments suggest StartPage was all above board but is now owned by an advertising company .

My question is should I stop using it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/s/qu0K7SLTD2

[Madchatthew]

I usually just use google to search. I have used DuckDuckGo before and that seemed like a good one. I am curious now too if there is a better search engine out there that doesn’t hide results, depending what you are looking for, and doesn’t try to steal you data.

I have used some other search engines as well. Back in the day I remember using yahoo search engine. I remember using the Netscape browser and I want to say that they might have had a search engine back then, but of course they are around anymore.

This might be a little off topic, but I have seen some headlines regarding and Arch browser but I think it is only made for Mac and not sure if they have a search engine.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew said in Best Search Engine?:

I have used some other search engines as well. Back in the day I remember using yahoo search engine. I remember using the Netscape browser and I want to say that they might have had a search engine back then, but of course they are around anymore.

You’re right. The search engine Yahoo used years ago was InkToMe

Netscape was acquired by AOL in 1998, and therefore, used their back-end technologies to power its search results. Interestingly, the original Netscape employees created the NSCA Mosaic browser was Netscape’s first offering, until the newer Netscape Navigator. As the management team wanted to knock NSCA’s Mosaic off the #1 spot, they internally codenamed Navigator as “Mozilla”, which in fact originally stood for “Mosaic Killer”.

The Mozilla Foundation rewrote all of the code for Navigator post the AOL acquisition to be compatible with the Gecko rendering engine when AOL scaled back its involvement with Mozilla Organization in the early 2000’s.

The Organization proceeded to establish the Mozilla Foundation in July 2003 to ensure its continued independence with financial and other assistance from AOL.

The Gecko engine is still used to power the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser today.

[phenomlab]

@JAC I have to admit, I still use Google, but never without the uBlock Origin browser extension, and always through a VPN. I did try Brave some time ago, but also found it went against its own mission of blocking ads etc by introducing BAT

https://basicattentiontoken.org/

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab I didn’t know all of that regarding Netscape and Mozilla. I do remember that AOL bought Netscape. I also remember that I hated AOL. People would bring their computers in to be fixed. I would boot them up and see AOL installed. The first thing I would do is uninstall AOL and reboot and the computers would start working like normal again. Then I would have to re-download AOL and install it and hope that it continued to work because the customer was insistant on using it for their internet dial up.

Another thing us old fossils had to do to get on the internet. Dial in to it

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew said in Best Search Engine?:

Another thing us old fossils had to do to get on the internet. Dial in to it

OMG yes - Analogue line and a modem - 14.4kbps, 28.8kbps, then 56.6kbps (but only with the Sportster Flash v92).

PS - I too hated AOL

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab said in Best Search Engine?:

@Madchatthew said in Best Search Engine?:

Another thing us old fossils had to do to get on the internet. Dial in to it

OMG yes - Analogue line and a modem - 14.4kbps, 28.8kbps, then 56.6kbps (but only with the Sportster Flash v92).

Oh wow does that bring back the memories LOL. I remember having to uninstall and reinstall modem drivers on computers to get them to work when they would stop. I remember when 36.6 came out and wow the speed boost. Then 56.6 and holy smokes the speed. Do you remember 96.6kbps when that came out? Holy smokes I think a lot of people broke the internet.

Then my roommates and I got DSL when that was available and I will tell you what. There was no stopping us LOLOL

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew Yeah, I recall the 96.6kbps but on this side of the pond, it didn’t really catch on - I think a lot of people saw it as a stepping stone for ISDN (T1 in the US) at 128k (basically two bonded lines at 64k each). The issue with ISDN was that it was SO expensive. Great latency as there wasn’t many people using it.

Then along came DSL as you say which changed everything. I remember getting a cable DSL line fitted at 512kbps and it seemed so fast. Now I have 400Mbps coming into my house

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab Yeah I do remember how expensive T1 lines were. I had always wanted to get one, but couldn’t afford it LOL. And now look where we are. We can get Gigabyte speed service to our homes. Crazy how much times have changed.

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew I know. Who would have thought that we’d be getting blazing internet speeds in the not-so-distant-future when we were listening to sounds like this

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab LOL that is hilarious! That sound brings back soooo many memories hahaha

[phenomlab]

@Madchatthew And for me. The saddest part is that you know exactly when the sound changes as a connection is made and the transfer starts

[Madchatthew]

@phenomlab and that is the exact moment you double click on the browser icon and start typing away what you want to search for haha