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PayPalNot gaming news but an important subject to cover anyway since it's something that affects me and GamingOnLinux directly, as well as all of you who regularly use a search engine. The OpenWebSearch might be one way to save us all.
It's certainly no secret that web searching is getting worse as all the AI enshittification continues. AI is more and more forced in your face, and the big few (Google, Microsoft) like to keep as much control as they possibly can. Just look at recent news, with Microsoft cutting off access to Bing Search APIs on August 11 2025 as they continue to pivot to AI.
Especially important for sites like GamingOnLinux, and pretty much any news site that isn't one of the big few that keep buying up all the others, as we might only be one algorithm change from not being shown in search results at all.
OpenWebSearch is one possible new ally in this internet fight, a European Union-funded project to build up a massive modern search index that doesn't depend on the big US giants. The idea is not to build a search system themselves, but to provide an open search API, so that others would be able to hook into it and make use of it.
They've just announced recently that it's going public in June:
After 2,5 years of intensive research and programming efforts, the entire Openwebsearch.eu project team is excited to grant access to its pilot of the first-ever federated pan-European Open Web Index (OWI).
From June onward, commercial and scientific development teams of any size as well as interested individuals are welcome to access and make use of almost a petabyte (and growing) of open web data under a general research license or – upon request – under a designated commercial license as well.
I'm very interested to see what becomes of this one. Hopefully something meaningful, but I remain skeptical on it doing much to make a dent in the sides of Google and Bing. Depends if they manage to get some search engines to make good use of it or not and if the licensing when it's out fully is actually reasonable.
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To be fair, in virtually all instances, those "AI tools" are entirely disable-able, and there are also a decent number of competitors in the search-engine space as-is.
Although, to be fair in the other way, IIRC, DuckDuckGo, for example, does primarily use Bing, although not strictly so.
We'll see if the EU-funded project actually provides anything useful, or if they're just posturing; because if it's main purpose is just in being a "European alternative", then that doesn't really inspire confidence (in me at least).
Last edited by coolitic on 19 May 2025 at 2:36 pm UTC
Although, to be fair in the other way, IIRC, DuckDuckGo, for example, does primarily use Bing, although not strictly so.
We'll see if the EU-funded project actually provides anything useful, or if they're just posturing; because if it's main purpose is just in being a "European alternative", then that doesn't really inspire confidence (in me at least).
Last edited by coolitic on 19 May 2025 at 2:36 pm UTC
2 Likes
Pyrate 9 hours ago
I've been using SearXNG for my web searching for a few years now. The other day I had a friend's phone in hand and I looked something up on Google (the default), I was blown away by the amount of crap showing up that wasn't what I was looking for: the first result is an AI generated response, then it's 4 to 5 advertisements, so I had to scroll down to get what I needed. This is the average experience for most people, and it's somehow fine by them.
This project sounds interesting, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
This project sounds interesting, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
7 Likes
tfk 9 hours ago
Yeah I'm running a SearxNg container on my rpi server. Works very nice.
0 Likes
benstor214 9 hours ago
The search engine will need a name more catchy than 'open web search' zzZ
This is the average experience for most people, and it's somehow fine by them.I'm repeatedly flabbergasted by the amount of abuse people around me will put up with.
1 Likes
I'm skeptical of this project because they'll have a hard time convincing a lot of people to use it, even if it's good. This is like the situation we see today, where Bluesky is an alternative for X/Twitter but isn't gaining a lot of traction to pull away anyone that's already using X/Twitter.
Now, what I hope doesn't happen is that the search engine becomes policed like the UK laws that affected sites like GamingOnLinux, where forums were removed and links and replies were disabled.
Now, what I hope doesn't happen is that the search engine becomes policed like the UK laws that affected sites like GamingOnLinux, where forums were removed and links and replies were disabled.
1 Likes
Mountain Man 9 hours ago
I'm reminded of the famous quote by Ronald Reagan, "One of the most terrifying phrases in the English language is, 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'" Frankly, I have no faith that any government organization -- and especially the European Union -- will be able to fix the Internet. The only thing governments ever offer as a solution is more control and less freedom, and that's rarely a good thing. Just look what happened to this site. I'm honestly surprised that comments to articles are still allowed.
Last edited by Mountain Man on 19 May 2025 at 3:16 pm UTC
Last edited by Mountain Man on 19 May 2025 at 3:16 pm UTC
1 Likes
Eike 8 hours ago
The only thing governments ever offer as a solution is more control and less freedom, and that's rarely a good thing. Just look what happened to this site. I'm honestly surprised that comments to articles are still allowed.
The EU forces Apple to open up for other stores.
6 Likes
Eike 8 hours ago
I'm skeptical of this project because they'll have a hard time convincing a lot of people to use it, even if it's good. This is like the situation we see today, where Bluesky is an alternative for X/Twitter but isn't gaining a lot of traction to pull away anyone that's already using X/Twitter.
I'm also sceptical, but the situation is quite different to X: Social media makes so much more sense at the place where the other ones are, too. For a search engine, this doesn't matter.
3 Likes
eggrole 8 hours ago
I'm repeatedly flabbergasted by the amount of abuse people around me will put up with.
In tech terms, and probably a lot of others as well, most people simply don't know there are alternatives or how to configure things to better suit themselves. There is that joke about how there is exactly one generation that can rotate a PDF. The older gen never had to learn how to use a lot of these tools and the younger gen is getting the most watered down exerperience where everything is hidden so they never learn anything beyond the surface.
There have been, for years now, professors complaining that fresh computer science students don't know the most fundamental things about computers - like what a file system is. This, IMHO, dumbing down everything to the lowest common denominator is the root of enshitification. In the endless pursuit of "line must go up", companies are trying to cast a wider and wider net to catch as large an audience as possible.
4 Likes
Linux_Rocks 7 hours ago
Oh please, fuck Ronald Reagan and redneck yanqui gringo fear mongering about regulation or assistance. I don't like the EU, but at least sometimes the blind squirrel finds an occasional nut. Like them forcing Apple to do shit.
Ronald Wilson Reagan: 666. If there actually was such a thing, it was him. Along with Thatcher being his demonic mistress.
Ronald Wilson Reagan: 666. If there actually was such a thing, it was him. Along with Thatcher being his demonic mistress.
3 Likes
soulsource 6 hours ago
While the project receives funding from the EU, it is run by universities and private companies. Therefore I have some hope that it will turn out alright in the end.
2 Likes
F.Ultra 6 hours ago
Now, what I hope doesn't happen is that the search engine becomes policed like the UK laws that affected sites like GamingOnLinux, where forums were removed and links and replies were disabled.
It doesn't matter who runs a search engine, if a political body want's to policy it, they will. So in that regard it does not matter if you use Google, Bing or a EU funded search engine. They will all be identically policed by your local political leaders because they are the ones dictating the laws.
The difference is that on e.g a EU funded search engine you will no longer be subject to the corporate policing that you are at Google and Bing.
Hopefully this project will also bring back useful searches, e.g Google have since long abandoned yielding results for you the end user and instead focused everything on yielding results that benefits their ad revenue (which is why Google is soo much more easy to spam these days).
See e.g "How Google RUINED the Internet" by Adam Conover at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7NHABs76mg
Last edited by F.Ultra on 19 May 2025 at 6:11 pm UTC
0 Likes
doragasu 5 hours ago
I really hope this doesn't suck! Been using DDG for many years, and it works for me, but would prefer an European funded alternative that doesn't depend on Bing.
2 Likes
Marlock 4 hours ago
my 2 cents:
if it doesn't offer a basic reference website, only an API, users might be distanced from it by a myriad of half-assed privacy-eggregious frontends
if it cares for only european content or it's only for europeans to use it, it's also dead in the water, because even europeans need non-european content to be searchable, etc
fortunately i suspect it's actually all the world's content for all the world but under european legislation, which is probably the best new option we (the world, not just europe) can have right now... yes, there'll be some content filtering, but less so than the reality bubbles Google, Meta & friends have been building around everyone while horning "free speech" against country laws
and given the EU still leaves room for national differences in content restriction rules, i suspect the API will actually allow EVERYTHING to be indexed and searcheable, with each frontend defining its national/corporate/political filter as an option, not at its core (eg: API providing filtering flags for ...&show_allowed_in=UK, ...&pegi=13, show_fakes=false, etc)
there are actually a zillion valid usecases for eg: a researcher or a company to be able to list and explore otherwise banned content, and if they're smart they might avoid "censorship" allegations this way
the obvious caveat is crazies building a campaing for everyone to actually use search.breitbart.eu daily "to avoid censorship" while unwittingly falling into a secondary web UI reality bubble atop a perfectly ok base
but the API license could enforce filtering trasparency as a condition for its usage
anyway, here is to at least a hint of hope for less ad-driven top results 🍻
if it doesn't offer a basic reference website, only an API, users might be distanced from it by a myriad of half-assed privacy-eggregious frontends
if it cares for only european content or it's only for europeans to use it, it's also dead in the water, because even europeans need non-european content to be searchable, etc
fortunately i suspect it's actually all the world's content for all the world but under european legislation, which is probably the best new option we (the world, not just europe) can have right now... yes, there'll be some content filtering, but less so than the reality bubbles Google, Meta & friends have been building around everyone while horning "free speech" against country laws
and given the EU still leaves room for national differences in content restriction rules, i suspect the API will actually allow EVERYTHING to be indexed and searcheable, with each frontend defining its national/corporate/political filter as an option, not at its core (eg: API providing filtering flags for ...&show_allowed_in=UK, ...&pegi=13, show_fakes=false, etc)
there are actually a zillion valid usecases for eg: a researcher or a company to be able to list and explore otherwise banned content, and if they're smart they might avoid "censorship" allegations this way
the obvious caveat is crazies building a campaing for everyone to actually use search.breitbart.eu daily "to avoid censorship" while unwittingly falling into a secondary web UI reality bubble atop a perfectly ok base
but the API license could enforce filtering trasparency as a condition for its usage
anyway, here is to at least a hint of hope for less ad-driven top results 🍻
0 Likes
hell0 4 hours ago
Although, to be fair in the other way, IIRC, DuckDuckGo, for example, does primarily use Bing, although not strictly so.
DDG was down when bing was down a while ago, so was yahoo and pretty much all "alternative" search engine.
Just look at recent news, with Microsoft cutting off access to Bing Search APIs on August 11 2025 as they continue to pivot to AI.
Ironically this could be a huge boon for openwebsearch. Since several search engines rely heavily on bing APIs, they will need to find an alternative. Whether intentional or not, good timing on their part.
1 Likes
Cerberon 45 minutes ago
I would be sceptical of anything the European Union does, but a new search engine is sorely needed.
0 Likes
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