[limejuice]

I think microsoft had excellent timing with its 'scroogled' ads. (http://www.scroogled.com/).

I've already switched by browser's default search to http://duckduckgo.com, and honestly haven't noticed a difference, although alot of my searches are already on more domain-specific sites like stackoverflow.com so I bypass generic search engine.

Now, it could be time to switch back to firefox from chrome, esp. if google decides to scroogle AdBlock Plus from the Chrome Web Store too.

[psionski]

https://startpage.com/ is also really nice :)

[mehrzad]

For Firefox set, Duckduckgo as the URL Bar search engine (somewhere in about:config) and Startpage as the right click search.

[BHSPitMonkey]

Comparing Google to DuckDuckGo in this case doesn't make sense; DuckDuckGo is not the primary stakeholder in any mobile OS platform and does not operate an app marketplace for said platform. It is only directly comparable to Google's Search product, which is entirely disjoint from Android and the Play Store.

Also remember that, though the package has been removed from the Play Store, Google has taken no measures to prevent you from downloading and installing the APK directly from the author's web site (and the same goes for the Chrome extension if it gets pulled). (They are not leveraging their control over the platform; just the distribution channel they host).