I switched awhile back and I use ddg mostly the same way you do, though as of late it has felt slower.

Google's social integration, instant search, image previews, and advanced feature removal have made it a chore to use and I'm too lazy to go around disabling every new feature they come up with. Part of me wishes I still had the plain 'ol classic Google interface and behavior but I guess the site is now geared towards everyday folks, not techies.

I gave Chrome a spin the other day again (haven't used it in months) and the default twitchy instant search behavior seemed bizarre and jarring. I think I must be becoming an old fart...

I also think that search quality has gone down at Google (ddg still doesn't hold a candle to Google in that regard, however).

> geared towards everyday folks, not techies.

See, that is what I do not get. Google claims to be able to create a better product experience based on all that datamining they do.

If that is the case, why don't they change the user interface based on what type of person they think I am? They have the data for it, or don't they?

I trusted Google, I bought their products and I used their services, I bought a nexus one and always said yes to them monitoring my data, I thought it would help them understand me better. I loved wave, got into the plus beta, I thought Google was part of my brain.

Then they banned me from G+ for using my own name. The appeal process took two months, was entirely impersonal and finally resulted in me remaining banned. When combined with their widespread censorship, capitulation to corrupt governments and the new privacy policy.. As far as I am concerned, I am not leaving Google, Google left me.

Same here. Especially since Google changed their privacy policy recently I use it less frequently.