Qwant Wants to Be Alternative to Google

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Osaban, Jan 1, 2015.

  1. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/...icmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&_r=0
     
  2. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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  3. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    Interesting, however saying that they "take on Google" is a bit of an exaggeration :)
     
  4. Pharao

    Pharao Registered Member

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    You get a whole column of adds (SHOPPING) at each request instead.
    If this wouldn't be enough you also get a whole column of (sponsored?) NEWS.
    Even some of the SOCIAL column results you also don't ask for seem to be sponsored.
    As for the search item you asked for, the results are very thin - compared to Google at least.

    So what are you left with? A poor search engine that can't even be used without having scripting enabled?
    Not even Google is forcing scripting on the user.

    Don't get me wrong. I always hoped that some day I can have a decent replacement for Google.
    Unfortunately Qwant as it looks for now, can be anything except a decent replacement for Google.
     
  5. Veeshush

    Veeshush Registered Member

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  6. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    How did you come up with the conclusion that Social and News columns are sponsored? :confused:
     
  7. Gullible Jones

    Gullible Jones Registered Member

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    Right now pretty much everyone has been knocked back to B due to RC4 being weak. Google is also currently rated at B. Not much can be done about it yet.
     
  8. Pharao

    Pharao Registered Member

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    I only told that it seems. It seems because of the offerings even on social sites.

    qwant.png
     
  9. Mayahana

    Mayahana Banned

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    I'm seeing NO ads, and Adguard isn't blocking a single element on Qwant. It could be stopped on my router though.
     
  10. leoturilli

    leoturilli Registered Member

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    I've been using Qwant for a while now. I have an internet site in France where I analyse the international news. I've never felt like there is sponsoring on the news section, neither does the social section. I always find the results I look for. Sometimes its more complicated than with Google, sometimes it's easier but most of the time, I don't find a real difference (I don't surf "connected" to my google account to avoid tracking but I'm not sure if it makes a difference...).

    I think that the problem with your social "kind of advertisement" comes from the fact that your search was about Lexus. Companies have Twitter or Facebook accounts also so I'm not sure that you have those results because of Qwant beeing sponsored in any kind of way.

    What's really interesting and made me use Qwant to search for International news is the fact that when you change the laguage, you also change the results. When I choose English USA, I have different results than English UK. I'm actually in Switzerland and I've been trying to find informations about Ukraine recently but I needed all the versions (not only the USA-EU version). It also helps me follow french news from wherever I am.

    I agree to the fact that it's a bit too much to say that Qwant attacks Google (nobody really can anymore, it's too late, too powerfull and influent politically speaking) but having the choise is important. I learned some things about Qwant when I saw them participating to the "Night of the Hack" (Nuit du Hack 2014) event this summer. They're open to hacker communities. USA early understood the power of hacking communities to optimise security but in France, hackers are still seen as "criminals" and noone even knows what a "white hat" is. Seeing qwant in that event was positive in my opinion. Anyway, they claim that they have no sponsors and from what I've heard here, they really don't have sponsors. As about the Shopping column, my adblock blocks it so i don't even see it ;)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 2, 2015
  11. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    LOL, it looks like crap, what a horrible design. These guys clearly don't get it, why do you think Google became the number 1 search engine?
     
  12. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    Because they are the best at what they do :D
     
  13. guest

    guest Guest

    Requires Javascript just to get my search results.

    No.

    No they aren't. At least not for the last 3 years.
     
  14. Compu KTed

    Compu KTed Registered Member

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    Although DuckDuckGo scored an A.
     
  15. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes, it's because they present the search results with blazing speed and the page has a simple layout. Others have tried, but they still failed, because they couldn't follow these simple rules. Just look at Ask.com, it takes at least 3 seconds to come up with results. And based on the current design I can not even take these Qwant guys seriously.
     
  16. leoturilli

    leoturilli Registered Member

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    Yes. Google is fast, Google is complete, Google is this, Google is that but Google is also a very scary company that has actually more power thatn many states. When France tryied to tax Google (that pay no taxes in France compared to what they earn in that country), Google blackmailed the governement by saying that they will take off the governemental sites off their search engine and the french governement canceled their decision. Same thing in Spain. And what about all the private information they gather and sell to companies or secret services or states ? What about all the compagnies that they're bying almost every day ?

    Google is a great tool but there are many huge problems with them. Ethical problems, the fact that they didn't really change anything in their search engine for years, the fact that they see user as dollars, the fact that they respect nothing at all and if you try to change that, you are blackmailed... should I continue ? Qwant or other search engines are not as fonctionnal as Google but at least, they try to respect a bit more their users and the host countries and at least, they take the risk to propose something new. Evolution comes with risk and Google forgot that. All they seem to do is to absorb money and power based on our ignorance in this kind of topics. People that take time to find out the consequence of their choises simply don't use Google anymore. They represent a small percentage of the global popullation but their opinion is more interesting in my point of view.

    Now I have a question and your opinion seems interestings. Could you check this list and explain me why a search engine company needs all these other companies ?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google
     
  17. guest

    guest Guest

    a) people seem to forget that Google is an advertisement company
    b) people seem to love overestimating Google's position compared to governments

    I do feel sorry for Google sometimes.
     
  18. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    Well, I have tried other search engines, and I have tried to stay with those that I have tried, but I don't manage to stay with them. So for me Google it is.
     
  19. guest

    guest Guest

    Of course everyone has their own preferences. As for me, it keeps giving me irrelevant search results on top.
     
  20. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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    I see, yeah that doesn't sound fun.

    I could say like this, there are many alternatives to Google, but I still haven't found an alternative that is better or as good as Google, I wish I did some day. That Qwant wants to take on Google is great, but not very realistic that they get a huge success, but who knows, good luck to them anyway.
     
  21. guest

    guest Guest

    They might be. And when they are as big as Google, they will become Google itself. This is the basic formula that we all have been familiar with. :D
     
  22. leoturilli

    leoturilli Registered Member

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    a) I'm not really the kind of guys wearing an aluminium helmet and believing to conspiracies and stuff like that. I like using facts in my conversations and the tax story in France and Spain are facts that proove that Google can not be deranged by some states (with the exeption of USA, the most powerfull state in our planet, nothing new there). Is Google really just an advertising company ? Did you check the list thats I posted earlier ? If they're just an advertisement company, than why do they need 174 other enterprises bought the last 15 years (with an accelerating rate this last 6 or 7 years) ? Here's the list again : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google

    b) I agree with you that sometimes people believe stuff that they heard on the internet (some people really believe that reptilians live inside the moon and they controll our minds from up there so...) but it's different with Google as it is with some other companies. Once again, I've studied facts, not random blablas on the internet. Listening to what Snowden revealed got my atention.

    Anyway, I understand your point of view and I'm not saying I'm right. I specially agree with you when you say "They might be. And when they are as big as Google, they will become Google itself. This is the basic formula that we all have been familiar with. :D". I just hope that Qwant, or any other real alternative (not engines using Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc) get enough success to survive but not too much to be corrupted.
     
  23. leoturilli

    leoturilli Registered Member

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    I would like to say that alternatives that work better than Google exist but unfortunatetly, that wouldn't be true so I agree with you in that point :( In my opinion, Qwant is good enough for a daily use but I still have to use Google when I search images because of the lack of filters. I hope they'll work on that and from what I've recently seen in French TV, they are evolving beceause they are growing more and more every day and they're becoming interesting for investors. Here is the link for those who speak french (economy press) : http://www.boursorama.com/actualite...andri--27-12-b609a7290fa242fb601ca2d8d90ddaad
     
  24. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    It's interesting , but apparently I don't care enough about this kinda stuff to stop me from using Google. I'm more interested in speed and user interface design, this is what made Google big, and other companies are just too dumb to get this.

    This aspect should indeed be improved, I also sometimes feel like I ain't getting the best results.
     
  25. guest

    guest Guest

    @leoturilli
    Ah I'm not going to that direction. Pull over...

    Google is an advertisement company. Advertisements are never been ethical and always been offensive. We can't expect Google and other similar companies to have mannered approaches. For what do they need that many acquisition agendas? I don't know. It might be just a business strategy. Imagine if you can monopolize the advertising market through popular services and how much profit you can make.

    Also, no matter how big do you think a company is, the governments are always being bigger. I'll be trying to not going too OT to make my point here, so in short, companies are required to follow the regulations of the governments. True, you can make justifications by saying that the companies may have influence to the regulators and I'm not denying that it happens every now and then. But the governments still have as much power just enough to take down those companies if they wanted to do so. Dogs be dogs, elephants be elephants, worms be worms.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2015
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