ADVANCEDPROJECTS
ISSUE387|COMPUTER SHOPPER|MAY2020 127
So that’s Ask immediately in the bin: if we ask forthe datefor
Easter,wedon’t expect aresults page full of holidayoffers.
Meanwhile,Googleand Bing showed us our answer immediately,
while Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo both required us to click through to a
separateweb page.While Ecosia uses Bing’s engine,itdidn’tsurface
the answer in the same speedy wayasthe ‘works’ page,also only
revealing alinktoareputable website.
However,aswell as speed and accuracy,you’ll see that some of
these search engines offer different perks and features. DuckDuckGo’s
main selling point is privacy: it doesn’t track you as you search.
Perhaps that’s worth the compromise of having to use afew more
clicks to get your information. Equally,Ecosia diverts its profits into
planting trees, helping restore forests and address the climate
emergency (although many argue that carbon sequestration in
peat bogs and wetlands might be more effective than massive
reforestation –Ecosia it formoredetails).
If you’re worried about climatechange,you might also notethat
Bing is Microsoft’ssearch engine,and that Microsoftrecently
committed to being carbon-negative (taking more CO2 from the
atmosphere than it puts in) by 2030. Meanwhile,Googlehas been
carbon-neutral since 2007,with employees pushing forfurther
action. Both companies rely on offsetting to achieve their carbon
targets, but we’ll leave the debateastowhether offsetting is
appropriatefor another article.
You’ll also notice that some search engines have other tools,
whetherthat’s previews or summaries of Wikipediaarticles, or links
to other types of search parameters. Forexample,most searchWhile youwould assume thatall
mainstream search engines would
surfacethe same information in similarly
accessible ways,you’dbewrong
Yahoo!Ask