Kind of fucked up but tbf Google does similarly shady stuff.
Please just use duckduckgo (or SearX).
DDG is just Bing under the hood
And Searx is the same. And startpage is just google.
But the point is they don’t track.
DDG was letting Bing track users. They may have stopped now that they got in trouble for it.
Wait really?
Best I could find was this arstechnica article from 2022:
Microsoft trackers run afoul of DuckDuckGo, get added to blocklist: Search privacy company still needs Bing, but won't allow Microsoft's trackers. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/microsoft-trackers-run-afoul-of-duckduckgo-get-added-to-blocklist/
Yeah that would be it:
Previously, we were limited in how we could apply our 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection on Microsoft tracking scripts due to a policy requirement related to our use of Bing as a source for our private search results
I couldn't remember the details exactly, but basically up until then they were allowing Microsoft tracking despite all their advertising claiming they wouldn't track users.
SearX is dead; you should use SearXNG now.
I feel like Microsoft is way more shameless about their shady stuff. They've been messing around with impersonating google/chrome for awhile now, they recently had that thing where they would copy all your open chrome tabs, and then when you started your computer it would open edge with all your chrome tabs to trick people into using edge instead.
They aren't afraid of people complaining about them, they are afraid of the government, and they fulfill a hefty amount of contracts for the gov
I would use anything else before DDG, the primary function of it which is searching, generally feels sucky
Microsoft does so many scammy things when it comes to trying to prevent people from using Chrome/Google. Even though Edge/Bing hasn't caught on, I really think them abusing windows dominate OS position this way should be enough for an antitrust lawsuit.
I'm having antitrust deja vu. Anybody else?
Hope for EU sanctions because it's going to be a rubber stamp for at least the next four years in the US.
lol the gall
Usual Microsoft, using shady tactics instead of creating a better product or just focusing on their own thing and respecting user choice. They should grow up sometime.
They seem to pathologically not be able to help themselves, even with products that don't need to be promoted that way. I used Outlook for Android for years because it was actually quite good. Had a multi account inbox view, true dark mode, Galaxy Watch compatibility when those were all rather unusual features. But then they started trying to put Bing search in my long press menu system wide, using Outlook as the Trojan horse to do so, and I just found that too obnoxious
I don't think they can. They would need to rethink their company culture, but because the current one makes big numbers go up, they don't really have to change anything.
This is a search engine showing open evidence of skewing results away from true for their own motivations. Slightly comic when it is Microsoft doing it to Google but if they do this so blatantly how else are they more subtly redirecting our searches towards biased or even false results that benefit them and misinform the user.
This is a genius move to keep you from Google search
Seems more like a genius move to get slapped with another antitrust-like lawsuit.
Corps don't give a fuck about an antitrust law suit. In the US, the party that pays the most to jerk off CEOs just got put in charge. Even if it was the other party, who only pays slightly less, the most extreme fines are a slap on the wrist. Hell, come Jam 20th it'll probably a tax write off.
Until the EU levies fines that would kneecap these companies out of business, there is no incentive to change the behavior.
I mean the original lawsuit was for aggressively bundling Internet Explorer and kneecapping other browsers. Which sure sounds a lot like a minor variation on what they've been doing with Edge and Bing for a while now, without consequences. Antitrust enforcement is not something I have a lot of confidence in for the foreseeable future.
Bing/Microsoft are so scummy lately
The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy! But an enemy I like to watch.
The single thing Google did right when they first came out was a clean UI with a search bar on an uncluttered page.
At the time the competitors had search pages cluttered with ads and news. It was so bad you couldn't think.
If Microsoft makes their search nice to look at them it's going to get many more users
DuckDuckGo and Kagi managed to figure this out. Bing is the odd one out.
Honestly, that's actually smart and nobody is hurt here. Google by now is as shit as Bing, so there's nothing wrong with using B instead of G. Let them downvotes come :)
Misleading users is definitely harmful. Since this is obviously done on purpose, I'd say it's malicious.
yeah, you're right, actually. if I have to fit this somewhere in my framework of things, it'd fall in the "dark pattern" box. so per definition it's actually malicious.
It's malicious and I like it. What's more entertaining than watching giants fight?
Is Google really as shit as Bing? I had to Ask Jeeves to confirm that.
With Net Neutrality gone, these giant tech companies could start bidding to make ISPs make their search engine default and have the other competitors fail to load.
The stupidest thing about this whole entire thing about net neutrality.
The entire reason the FCC was created was to prevent the committee from being governed by the government process to avoid corruption for the exact circumstances we're seeing here
Saying that the Supreme Court and the appeals court has any area of saying what the FCC is legally allowed to do is laughable, as the entire reason for the committee being isolated from the standard Executive Administrative branches was to prevent government overreach like they're doing currently.
This is 1,000% them saying hey you're an isolated committee that we can't touch but you're not allowed to do the one thing that your committee is supposed to do
Corruption all the way to the top. It's the American way, ironically I think the slogan "drain the swamp" works for both parties, as it's clear that the people that are in charge aren't willing to actually uphold the commitment they've made to the people.
"This thing that one party did, multiple times, is the fault of both parties!"
Microsoft is a pathetic little husk of a company, what a corny and predatory practice that not even google cares to do if you search other search engines.
The Yes Men have already done it.
We need to get back to real fucking culture jamming. Andy Bichlbaum you're our only hope!
Besides Privacy DDG is wayy better then Google And Bing + It has a better search quality.
I prefer DDG to either as well, but in terms of search quality ... Don't they use Bing search results?
Yes they use Bing but i think they did some adjustments to improve the search quality (Correct me if am wrong)
I disagree with the quality part.
And just when I thought their endless begging couldn't get any more pathetic.
Soon enough they'll tell you a puppy dies every time you launch a non-edge browser
Wait, is Microsoft using Google's copyrighted work on their page without authorization? This is going to get pulled so fast they're gonna get whiplash.
Why would they? They can imitate Google's style w/o violating their copyright, it would actually be easier to reinvent the wheel than to try to somehow copy what Google has. It's nothing special, just a bit of padding and margin settings for result cards and whatnot.
Yeah this "Microsoft" group seems to be pretty established and it looks like they have decent resources.
And probably a lawyer or two to look things over.
which has become a synonym for search engines or finding answers online.
If you’re my age, sure. But it’s crap.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
