Is Google getting worse?

dfk41

I do understand the annoyance, My pet peeve is companies like Microsoft updating things differently, after I have it setup how I want it, it seems like an update just for the sake of it, when one is not needed.

But it is what it is.

If I type in “Eureka” for example, i don’t get what I’m after but if I type in “Eureka coffee” it appears at the top of the google list, Maybe give abit more info in the search field.

dfk41

I use Opera browser with addons like Ublock origin & Privacy badger and that cuts out almost all sponsered ads when searching, even with google.

An option is to use the ‘Brave’ browser and secure search it provides to eliminate ads. I gave it a quick go and it seemed okay, if I wasn’t happy with my current Opera set up I’d change.

dfk41

I have listed the extensions I run in Opera which will get you to a speedy set up without too much faff🙂

• Disable html 5 autoplay (to allow me to choose when to watch videos and not have them autoload within a webpage)

• Homepage in New Tab

• Opera Ad Blocker

• Privacy Badger

• Ublock Origin

Did you have a look at Brave?

I’d question the very premise that it’s physically possible for Google to get worse.

Oh sorry, you mean the search part of Google. I don’t know, I haven’t used it in years. i do know that I woudn’t cross the road to pee on Google, if they were on fire.

As a company, I have them as #1 on my list of “sucks, big time”.

I shall now go quiet before I really get in to my standard Google rant.

Google is getting worse because SEO.

When Google started and many years later they indexed the WWW and results were better, since the programming of the websites were “honest”.

Now, many smart people found out what Google requires to prioritise positions on the search results… the result is that each search query provides tens if not hundreds of bullshit websites filled with the keywords and other stuff that is just there to meet Google requirements but not users 😓

Gagaryn This is actually the important bit. When we bought software the customer/provider relationship was clear. Now the business model is much muddier - people rarely choose to buy software outright, or have no option to. Software is now provided as a service, either in return for subscription fees (looking at you Adobe) or in informed or uninformed acceptance that we are consenting to our data being used by these companies for income.

As the model matured the small players got eaten by the bigger ones and we consumers have little choice but to submit to tech giants milking us as much as they possibly can. You might think you are fighting back by deleting FB etc but probably don’t want the inconvenience of avoiding Microsoft, Apple, Google, PayPal, Amazon et al.

Regulation always lags years behind innovation so the power increasingly sits with the tech giants, politicians seem to tacitly acknowledge this by wanting to be seen as close to the innovators so that they give the illusion of remaining relevant. Humanity is doomed, time to give the cockroaches their chance.

I agree entirely with the overall thrust of that.

Personally, and I accept my choices represent me and very likely not the general user, I part ways in a couple of areas.

First, I haven’t deleted FB, or Twitter/X, or any of those by virtue of never having installed them in the first place. I don’t see the use (for me), so never started. That’s not judging anyone that does use them. Just saying that I don’t hae any inclination.

As for Adobe, I used Photoshop (and others, like Lightroom, Pagemaker, Acrobat, etc) for a couple of decades at least. Back to about Photoshop v3, in fact. But yes,, I absolutely did dump them because I detest subscription software. Sure, Lightroom (last time i looked) didn’t require it but, the new ethos of Adobe was clear and I suspect that’s coming even if not yet a thing. So I didn’t so much dump Photoshop, as dump Adobe entirely. i looked around a lot, considered all sorts of alternatives from GIMP (free) to some fairly expensive commercial options but ended up with consumer-grade software in the form of Affinity (Serif) Photo for the pixel editing side (my Photoshop replacement) AND ACDSee Ultimate . I bought “lifetime” versions of both, though “annual” deals are there too. I only get large feature updates with new versions if I pay to upgrade but that’s fair - new features don’t develop themselves for free, and that model puts control of when/if I upgrade back wwith me, where I like it.

i also absolutely dumped almost all Microsoft products. Like Photosho, I was a Word use back to … well, i/ was on a DOS version of Wordstar when i switched to Word, and then had multiple versions of Office because I used (mainly) Excel and Access as well. Rarely Powerpoint, though. Again, after looking around a lot, I switched to what is now Libre. While I was at it, I switched a lot of what I do from Windows to Linux. I still have a Windows machine (on Win 10, as Idon’t want W11) but it’s limited in what I use it for.

Also, I saw an ominous-looking YT vid (no, I don’t have a Google ID, or rather, nt that is linked to me, and neversign in to YT) suggesting that MS’s CEO was planning on removing Start from Win 12 entirely and forcing everyone to use their Co-Pilot AI instead. It was a bit of a stretch but the quotes were from the CEO directly. it suggests a direction o travel for Windows, and an obnoxious one at that, IMHO.

That same sort of stance is true f other software. I chose to buy licences of Macrium Reflect for backup, despite plenty of “free” alternatives, back when there was still a free, if a bit restricted, version of Macrium. I voluntarily make a donation to the developer of other software I use, like FreeCommander, my file manager of choice.

I very much like and respect the Open Source community, and use more than a few such packages, like the already mentioned Libre, and Firefox, Thunderbird, and even OBS Studio. However, open source has many benefits but a few snags too, not least of which is that support is often volunteers on a forum, and future development isn’t guaranteed …. not thatit’s guaranteed i commercial software either, but the risk is often lower.

Idon’t know how typical I am, but I certainly will, and have, dumped the likes of Adobe over subscriptions, and to a very considerable extent, MS too. I also will :-

• buy commercial software where that software is right for me,
• use “free” but not open source software, and voluntarily pay towards it, if that software suits me, and/or
• use open source stuff too, and contribute, either with funds of time helping with the project.

I suspect I’m one of the exceptions to the rule and that, yeah, most people want what they want, and want it free if they possibly can, whether legal or not. At least in part, my attitude reflcts that I’m retired and while nowhere near “rich”, also not struggling, even given current times. That makes paying for stuff because it’s "right"easier to do, simply because I can, without it much hurting. So I;m not trying to lecture on the subject, and certainly not judging those where choosing paid software either isnt possible, or involves pain elsewhere. /ido it because I can, but if I couldn’t my attitude would be more …. um, ‘pragmatic’.

But I also think if we want good quality, “free” software to survive /9and /i seriously do), those of us fortunate enough to be able to afford to contribute, should. If nobody does, odds are we’ll all suffer because those products will wither on the vine.

Sorry - that went on longer than I intended when I started it. :oops: