OK, but tomorrow when I've forgotten that I've done this and I do a quick search, if the very first thing that comes up isn't what I want, I bet I switch right back.
replies(6):
I've had DDG as my default search engine. It's been a bit rocky. I've left it in place out of privacy preferences, and used it occasionally, but had actually started getting used to the google search method above.
I'm consciously reverting to using DDG more (it's getting better). Why? Because my privacy and rights do matter to me. I've still got Google literally a keystroke away (or !g from any DDG search, or !sp for StartPage's private proxied Google search).
And DDG's TTY mode is pretty awesome: https://duckduckgo.com/tty/
How does one find this kind of hidden features? I haven't seen it advertised anywhere except on HN.
I filed a bug about poor integration of DDG with w3m (a console-mode browser) based on default placement of the search button in the tab order. I received a response within the day pointing me at the lite interface: https://duckduckgo.com/lite
... which works perfectly.
That said: these do tend to be somewhat hidden, and I didn't find them through the "Goodies" or "Settings" DDG pages just now. Hrm.