To use Google to search for something online has become so common, to "Google" something has become a verb. Gmail is such a popular service for personal email that when coworkers ask for my non-work email address, they just assume it's on Gmail.

Which is why I think it's interesting that two my favorite technology-related decisions were to move from Gmail to Fastmail, and Google search to DuckDuckGo.

The motivation to move off of Gmail came in 2011, when reading Marco Arment's positive review of Fastmail and the security of having your email stored in a way that you completely control. It took some work. The process for getting a new domain set up and moving all my mail from Gmail to that domain took a few days, and it would probably take even longer now. But after it was all done, it's never taken any additional effort and I appreciate having a paid host for my email. I can use all of the native apps on my devices to access my mail, there are never ads, and the interface never changes. In 2013, when Google Reader was discontinued, I felt validated knowing that my email experience likely couldn't be disrupted the same way.

I moved to DuckDuckGo in 2014, when Apple introduced it as a default option on iOS and macOS. Compared to email it was an effortless decision, because I could always switch back to Google if needed. As DuckDuckGo has improved over the years, there has been less and less need to.

This is not to pick on Google. Google Search and Gmail were some of the most important turning points in Internet history, and set the bar for what we've come to expect as great experiences. However, both of these services were replacements for -- at the time -- were considered perfectly fine alternatives. Google succeeded because people were willing to take a chance on better options. There is no reason this practice can't continue today.