Scroogle R.I.P.

[joiwind]

So Scroogle has died amid apparently general indifference.

I'd just like to thank all those that kept the flag flying so long in difficult circumstances.

Scroogle gone forever

[40hz]

I think Scroogle learned the hard way that it's not a good idea to plan a product or service that's completely dependent on somebody else's forbearance or permission.

Much like the only server you can really trust and depend on is the one you own yourself, so too a search engine.


Sorry to see Scroogle go. But I think we all expected it would eventually happen this way.

[Stoic Joker]

Much like the only server you can really trust and depend on is the one you own yourself...

-40hz (March 03, 2012, 09:56 AM)

...And that's why I don't like/trust the cloud.

(But seriously) How does this effect Google's not evil score? Points against - it's obviously not a plus... - or do we call it a (predictable business move) draw??

[iphigenie]

how is a DOS attack and the lack of a viable business model Google's fault exactly? I'm no google fan by far but they are not running a charity and cannot be expected to.

[mahesh2k]

There are search engines and some commercial apps that are taking output from google search and removing the redirects and presenting it to users. Scroogle isn't the only in town for that. I am sure like this other search engines like dogpile that will die soon. So google is taking things seriously and hitting on services which are against their business model. As for google being charity, that's funny, google was known to spend money on useless stuff like - labs, summer of code, random contests, doodles from users and amazon gift certificates for answering their stupid 1 page survey. Sure all that was for their own benefit in one way or the other, but it was no less than charity in marketing sense.

If tomorrow bing takes data out of duckduckgo, expect gabriel to close DDG as well. Big point here is - nobody is trying to see the big picture due to the cost involved and hence leeching out on each other for solution.

[40hz]

how is a DOS attack and the lack of a viable business model Google's fault exactly? I'm no google fan by far but they are not running a charity and cannot be expected to.

-iphigenie (March 03, 2012, 10:36 AM)

I think that hits the nail on the head. And I'm no fan of Google either.

I think it's also important to note that Daniel Brandt takes pains to not associate the DDOS attacks his sites were receiving with Google's decision to make API changes that would prevent Scroogle from working the way it did.

Considering how quickly he pulled all his sites offline, I personally think he has a much better idea of what the DDOS attacks were about than he's letting on - and has pulled his domains  offline for more than the 'official' reason he gave for doing so:

I no longer have any domains online. I also took all my domains out of DNS because I want to signal to the criminal element that I have no more servers to trash. This hopefully will ward off further attacks on my previous providers.

Seriously, if you're getting hit with a coordinated and well-orchestrated DDOS against all your domains, I find it pretty hard to believe you have absolutely no clue as to why it may be happening.

I could be wrong about that, but his statement just strikes me as weird.

[Tuxman]

Scroogle? Used it once. No better choice than any other private search engine.

[TaoPhoenix]

There are search engines and some commercial apps that are taking output from google search and removing the redirects and presenting it to users. Scroogle isn't the only in town for that. I am sure like this other search engines like dogpile that will die soon. So google is taking things seriously and hitting on services which are against their business model. As for google being charity, that's funny, google was known to spend money on useless stuff like - labs, summer of code, random contests, doodles from users and amazon gift certificates for answering their stupid 1 page survey. Sure all that was for their own benefit in one way or the other, but it was no less than charity in marketing sense.

If tomorrow bing takes data out of duckduckgo, expect gabriel to close DDG as well. Big point here is - nobody is trying to see the big picture due to the cost involved and hence leeching out on each other for solution.

-mahesh2k (March 03, 2012, 11:13 AM)

Anyone want to chime in on StartPage? That was my choice for a while now, I think the results are a little different than Google (though they claim they are Google Inspired), but StartPage claims not to record your IP address, and I'd presume certainly not forwarding other info to Google. So that's my answer so far to Google's new policies.

[joiwind]

There are search engines and some commercial apps that are taking output from google search and removing the redirects and presenting it to users. Scroogle isn't the only in town for that. I am sure like this other search engines like dogpile that will die soon. So google is taking things seriously and hitting on services which are against their business model. As for google being charity, that's funny, google was known to spend money on useless stuff like - labs, summer of code, random contests, doodles from users and amazon gift certificates for answering their stupid 1 page survey. Sure all that was for their own benefit in one way or the other, but it was no less than charity in marketing sense.

If tomorrow bing takes data out of duckduckgo, expect gabriel to close DDG as well. Big point here is - nobody is trying to see the big picture due to the cost involved and hence leeching out on each other for solution.

-mahesh2k (March 03, 2012, 11:13 AM)

Anyone want to chime in on StartPage? That was my choice for a while now, I think the results are a little different than Google (though they claim they are Google Inspired), but StartPage claims not to record your IP address, and I'd presume certainly not forwarding other info to Google. So that's my answer so far to Google's new policies.

-TaoPhoenix (March 05, 2012, 06:06 AM)

I tried Startpage but prefer Ixquick which also runs Startpage.

[brahman]

I switched from Scroogle to DuckDuckGo.com to my greatest satisfaction. Startpage is also getting better.

[IainB]

I switched from Scroogle to DuckDuckGo.com to my greatest satisfaction. Startpage is also getting better.

-brahman (April 03, 2012, 02:09 PM)

Yes, I recently switched to DDG and it looks quite good to me, so far.