Post by @VogueLaGalere@mastodon.online

2026-09-08 14:52 UTC

@eliasulrich@hachyderm.io Something other than Google -- that sounds wonderful. But technical achievement aside, what makes Google succeed is money. From other comments it appears you received some funding from a government agency? What is going to be the source of funding to keep the lights on for this project? Seems to me the practical consideration of who's paying for it needs to be given consideration and mention.

Replies (2)

@number6@fosstodon.org 2026-09-12 19:36

@VogueLaGalere@mastodon.online @eliasulrich@hachyderm.io The secret sauce is that it doesn't actually cost that much to index the web. On the site, he says that it costs $200 per month. Google just got there first, with better algorithms and better indexing. It was great through about 2010. Then the SEO (which was supposed to be secret but apparently all spammers know) and monetization kicked in. Kagi is another search engine, where you pay to use it without the SEO stuff.

Open ##5119489
@Antigrav@mastodon.nz 2026-09-13 00:26

@VogueLaGalere@mastodon.online @eliasulrich@hachyderm.io , Nova launcher springs to mind. The 5nzd once paid for the app didn't keep the creator going. Most people would've been happy to pay that per year and, for all we know, that could've made all the difference.

Open ##5119490