Ubuntu is switching the default search from Google to Yahoo!
Those of you testing out the development version of Ubuntu Lucid should notice a change in Firefox very soon. The default search provider for new installations of Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) and upgrades will be Yahoo! and not Google. Canonical have struck a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! which generates income for the company. This revenue should help pay the wages of Ubuntu Developers employed by Canonical, and support the infrastructure required to develop and build the distribution.
So when using the search box in the top right corner of Firefox on Ubuntu, you’ll be taken to a Yahoo! results page rather than the old default Google one. If you are upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 and you had Google as your search provider (the previous default) then this will change to Yahoo!. You can of course change the search provider, this is merely the default for Lucid. Doing so will mean your search revenue won’t go via Yahoo! to Canonical. That’s your choice, clearly.
In addition, the browser ’start page’ – that is the page you see initially when you open the browser – will reflect whatever the default search provider is. So in the top right, if you choose ‘Google’ you’ll get the Google start page, and conversely if you choose ‘Yahoo!’ you’ll get the Yahoo! start page when you first open the browser. Again, you can change the start page to be blank or use some other search provider. These are just the new defaults.
It’s possible that additional search vendors may be added to the list – Bing anyone? – but it seems that for Lucid there will be at least the two mentioned above. Users who already run Ubuntu and are upgrading to Lucid, but don’t use Google won’t notice a difference, but they’re welcome to manually switch to the new Yahoo! search provider if they want to financially support the Ubuntu project that way.
No doubt this will cause some consternation within the Ubuntu community, as many find changes to “their” browser to be tantamount to breaking and entering their home. Indeed when these things were previously messed with there were a few heated complaints and reports of broken-ness.
Hopefully the dialog on this change will remain civil and, well.. lucid.
94 Comments
I have been following the blog posts and tweets and dents, and I found 2 funny instances. People who have, in the past, complained about Google search and Google knowing to much about them, are complaining today, about this announcement, that Yahoo isn’t as good as Google in search results, and will switch it to Google instantly. Hypocrites crack me up.
Today is going to be fun watching people trying to anti-justify (did I just make that word up?) the deal. I am really interested to see if we can at least get one solid post about it that isn’t FUD or straight up horsecrap. Let the games begin!
Bing FTW by the way! Nothing like having Microsoft making decisions for me. It is not a competitor with Google, because it is a decision engine! Hrmm, I need to decide, live or die? WTF DO YOU MEAN CTRL+ALT+DELETE?!?!
Is it so difficult to understand that while some people do not like Google’s privacy policy they may not like Yahoo at all? Would you call me a hypocrite if i do not like one aspect of an Android phone but do not like anything about the iPhone?
@tuxy: no, that is fine, but if you complain about Google’s privacy stuff, then when Yahoo is an option, you complain and state you are sticking with Google…it is people who put off Google in the past dropping gmail and everything, and then when Ubuntu says Yahoo, they say no and change their default to Google, that is a hypocrite.
Is it possible that you read posts from 2 or more people who have different opinions? Hypocritical does not mean that someone disagrees with someone else, numbnuts.
Ohh I’m sure there will be plenty of drama brought about by this, but one can hope.
I’m a bit torn on the idea. For one I like the idea of revenue for Canonical. On the other, Google is.. well, Google. I haven’t used a different search engine for years, and to start now would feel very foreign.
Me too. I’m kinda “meh” about it. I mean, on every other system I own (OSX/Windows) I change the default to Google, it’s only 2 clicks in firefox.
Oh, and I use Chrome anyway, why do I care?
You use Chrome… that brings up an interesting point.
Does this revenue sharing deal with Yahoo mean that Canonical will be under pressure to keep firefox as the default browser instead of Chrome/Chromium as Chrome becomes more popular in the userbase? It will be interesting to see if the chatter about Chrome/Chromium from Canonical employees drops off now that there is a non-Google revenue stream to protect associated with firefox.
I doubt it. First and foremost, in my mind, we seek to deliver compelling technology, and right now we have no plans around Chrome. Whether that will change in the future, who knows?
Is the Microsoft built Bing search engine a compelling technology? Or is it simply low hanging revenue?
-jef
I. Am. Gutted….
…That you got to use that headline and i didn’t. Seriously. =P
This is good news from a “stream of revenue to feed developers” sense, and it’ll be with a heavy heart that i’ll be switching it back to Google upon install. A good move by Canonical, i say.
Muahahahah! I had it typed up a while ago
Actually, if you remember popey, at UDS in Mt. View when we were standing outside while Daviey danced like a little monkey, we saw the Yahoo peeps sneaking around the hotel? You said it then, Yahoobuntu, at least someone did, and I would like to give you credit for it
I am clearly some kind of David Blaine style gitwizard.
I honestly do not know what the problem is all about. Google is not FOSS best friends any ways. This is a good opportunity for Canonical to finally get some money on their hard work. It is not a big deal for me, I usually use Google any way, and switch it as soon as I upgrade my distro.
Interesting change.
I haven’t used Yahoo!’s search engine for many years. In fact I don’t know anyone who does except for some “old people” like my dad
Does it work as well as Google? I might have to test it now and see.
If Canonical get more readies then it seems like a reasonable deal for them, although wasn’t MS going to buy Yahoo!? If so I doubt they will want the partnership to continue for very long somehow.
In a way I’m a little surprised by this; with Canonical and Google seemingly on quite good terms with the collaboration on Chrome OS etc. Are you sure this is “policy” yet and not just someone playing about with an early Alpha? Or maybe Canonical are just trying to tease a few more 0.0000p from Google for their place at the top?
Interesting? Yes. But it certainly isn’t worth getting all wordy and angry about though.
TTFN
Yeah, not worth getting all beat up about is it?
What in hell do these Ubuntu guys think they are doing.
Mozilla is the upstream company of firefox. They need the money just as much as Ubuntu does if not more. Ubuntu could have added there own toolbar or something else to make money. No need to steal from Mozilla’s income. Yes this is stealing. Same thing got Debian in trouble with Mozilla. I hope Ubuntu is prepared to rename firefox and pay out trademark infringement to Mozilla. Since the alteration ubuntu is doing will be deceptive usage of the Mozilla trademark of Firefox. Users have the right to presume the default setting are going to fund Mozilla since it has the Mozilla trademark on it.
Don’t Ubuntu guys read history of the Debian case of Iceweasel. Debain got attacked by Mozilla for altering Firefox not to be a revenue stream.
About time they wake up reverse this stupid move or at least do it completely. Create a new name and icon for firefox and take over full support of that version. Then you are able to take the profit. Until then its not a item for you to make profit from.
do you seriously think this comes as a shock to Mozilla?
Seems to me to be yet another reason to stop using Firefox. If they provide a browser that comes with seven pre-defined search engines, yet become litigious of the default is changed, they are simply setting themselves up.
I am typing this in chrome
Does that make me bad?
I am readng this page with Flock, a Firefox offshoot. Their default search is. . .Yahoo! Doesn’t matter to me. I have a Google account, Gmail and a blog on Blogger, so the Goog has all my bases. But my ISP is SBC, which uses Yahoo servers for mail, etc.
Who cares? I use Ubuntu 8.04 LTS anyway.
By distributors using the Firefox to advertise there produces Mozilla will defend its trademark and product. You want to use the Firefox trademark you don’t touch the revenue stream paying for it.
Now after it installed on your system as a end user you can change the search engine to what ever you like. Since you are not using firefox to sell your product so not using the Firefox trademark so don’t have restrictions.
Debian has already been on the receiving end. They striped the tracking bits that feed money back to Mozilla out of the search box in firefox causing Mozilla to attach and the forced rename to iceweasel.
My problem Mozilla Developers did not have any objections to Debian removing the tracking. Mozilla legal department did. The department that enforces against trademark abuse.
Be very careful you have approval from the right people at least. If Yahoo is going to keep on paying Mozilla and Pay Ubuntu extra things many not turn nasty. Even then big problems still can come. If people start complaining to Mozilla about the default not being what they expected no matter how nice Mozilla is now the game could change quickly. Basically get it in writing that Mozilla approves of the change so they cannot come back at latter date and use protection of trademark to enforce its will.
Anyone with a Trademark has the legal right to protect the usage of there trademark and control what it used with. This is a very large power that people love to forget about.
Basically playing with the search box is taking a lot of risks. Default install on Ubuntu will no longer match default install of firefox on all other platforms. Nice add a extra difference between platforms users have to get use to as well.
The big mistake with FOSS. If it trademarked you have to have approval from the trademark holder for your alterations or you must use a different name/logo if you don’t want to follow trademark holder instructions.
Lot of Ubuntu maintainers disregard this important fact of the open source world doing alterations to a lot of trademarked items and not getting atleast upstream approval for the alterations. So I was expecting normal Ubuntu playing with fire and that they have not even bothered asking. Ok maybe some of the time the Ubuntu maintainers do the right thing.
MPL, GPL and LGPL. Does not cover trademarks it gives no legal right to use them for altered forms. Once you alter without approval and still use the trademark the trademark holder has the legal right to skin you alive.
Mozilla is not setting anything. Canonical is.
Nothing to worry about: we have a close and very positive relationship with Mozilla, they are fully aware of the deal, are supportive and have no objections. We are always keen to have an awesome relationship with our partners.
This seems awkward, to be honest. Why would Canonical want to benefit from the revenue stream of an upstream project?
The thing is, and I’m just trying to understand what’s going on, this gives the impression that every cent Canonical makes out of this is a cent taken away from Mozilla, despite the fact that Firefox in Ubuntu is a custom build.
I don’t think it’s money “taken from” mozilla. If anything it’s money from Googles pockets.
Ok, fair enough, but I still think I’m not getting it. The question that comes to mind is why? Why would Canonical choose this approach as opposed to adding a search bar in the panel, for example?
You’re asked to remain civil, and pretty much the first thing you come up with are criminal charges (“this is stealing”). You probably don’t even see the irony. Boy, you’ve got to think more.
That said, I have my own reservations about this switch to Yahoo. But never mind, this is F(L)OSS where I make my own choices and nobody in the world, not even the mightiest corporations, can force me to live with anything I don’t like. With free software, defaults are just recommendations that you may or may not accept. My reply to Ubuntu and Yahoo is a clear thanks, but no thanks, I’ll stick with Google for the time being. I don’t have a bad conscience about this at all, or about any revenues or market-share or whatever anybody might lose from my decision. I don’t have to. Freedom also means freedom from feelings of guilt. And that’s a good thing too.
Freedom is cool. I think that the necessary evil of commercialisation just pisses us all off at times.
Canonical are not stupid. If people get annoyed by these influences in Ubuntu, then they’ll just start downloading Mint instead – or maybe juz go and find out if Fedora really is as cool as some people have been saying.
Freedom is great, but it’s not free.
Debian got “in trouble” (not really) for wanting to maintain a separate security patch set for Firefox (to keep secure but not bump the version). Mozilla’s licence didn’t allow that, so the project is continually forked and renamed in order to avoid trademark issues.
In short, no one got in trouble for anything.
Secondly, Mozilla gets income from Google when someone searches using Google. Mozilla doesn’t prevent you from changing your default search engine, and you doing so doesn’t mean that you are “stealing” from them. Default means just that, not “required.” A downstream project changing the default search engine (a configuration issue) is no different and won’t cause any trademark issues.
Most people are just going to switch it to Google anyway. I don’t know the terms of the deal (ie, if it’s only revenue sharing), but a better deal would have been with Google.
Sadly google have their own (annoyingly good) web browser. Maybe their focus is elsewhere.
I, for one, welcome our new search engine overlords
This change won’t half confuse my 71 year dad on his Ubuntu laptop, his internet browser is called Google.
I’ve spent 5 years trying to tell him (on Windows & Ubuntu) that his browser is called Internet Explorer or Firefox and NOT Google. I’m just going to have to tell him that Yahoo is a new version of Google
Or click the mouse twice and change it back?
It’ll be more fun to leave it as it stands, I’ll just blame his confusion on his age.
As a few people have said, if it generates income to support Ubuntu, what does it matter, at the end of the day all it is, is a search engine. As long as it works and finds the pages I’m looking for, its irrelevant.
Wait till its announced that the desktop background is changing to lime green, that’ll stir up a storm.
Or install Chrome OS? D’OH!
Give him Chrome, then you won’t have to explain anything for him to be right.
Firefox: That thing you use to download Chrome.
…..until Chrome gets into the Ubuntu Software Center.
I thought this was a joke at first, but it seemed to reasonably written. I don’t really mind, whatever brings in money. My main concern is that alternate browsers don’t come with Ubuntu useragents, so even though Ubuntu has over 60% of the linux desktop, we can only /prove/ like 45%.
And of course Yahoo search is going to become Bing. Well done! That’ll go nicely with Mono and removing the Gimp …
Rumbled. Next, we plan on shipping Microsoft Office instead of OpenOffice.org…
This is the best news ever! I can’t wait, forget ribbons my Christmas presents.
I knew it! (I believed BoycottNovell. LOL.)
And Paint. Please, don’t forget MS Paint. It’s a killer app and ubuntu needs it
Ubuntu will be really cool when it gets rid of that silly aptitude thing. Everyone know InstallShield is where its at.
In more than 5 years of faithfully using Ubuntu this is the first time I feel disappointed and perhaps even betrayed by Canonical for making a money-driven corporate decision instead of a community driven one. Shame on you!
This isn’t the first time they have sought to make money directly or indirectly from their users. I’m pretty sure they must have made money from the Google search, prior to using the Yahoo! one. They also make money from U1 (if you subscribe of course), then there’s the Ubuntu store, Landscape, support services. Canonical are a company, they need to carefully balance the corporate and community line. It’s not easy, and sometimes they mess up, but overall I think they’re pretty much on the “not being evil” side of the line.
Just wondering…
I have read the link you provided on the mailing list where the change was announce. I don’t mind change, especially that kind of change that I can “change” so easily myself to even something different than the 2 current proposed choices. However, my command of the English language (as I am not a native speaker) might lure me, so tell me if I’m wrong.
As I read the message on the mailing list, I learned a few things :
1. there will be 2 instead of one providers installed on Firefox
2. Yahoo! will be the default one on fresh install
3. it’s easily changeable
4. for those who have already the Google provider by default, it won’t change: “If a user has Google set as their search provider, they will have exactly the experience they do today.” (or am I misunderstanding it?) Therefore, if I upgrade, it should not change my provider (which I like, I do not like that upgrades are changing my customised settings, unless of course it is asking me if I want to)
5. Yahoo! got added because they got a deal with Canonical. Good news. But, IMHO this also implies that Canonical had a deal with Google previously? Does it really, or is it just my assumption? Could you confirm it? At least, the mail does not contradict this or clearly state it. Anyhow, this would be good news, especially if Canonical secure other deals like this, because if I select one of the providers that Canonical has a deal with, it will be beneficial for them.
My understandings of the mail and what I think it implies (especially points 4 and 5) are slightly different than the opinion you express in your post. So is it a mis-interpretation on my side? Or on yours? Or are we both incorrect?
Don’t get me wrong, I do not care too much about the default search provider in Ubuntu. As I know how to change it easily, if the default does not suit me, I just change it. So I don’t really care.
I’m just interested in this conversation because of this :
- I would be happy to know that by using a search provider I contribute indirectly to Ubuntu. So I want to know more about those “deals”
- I don’t care what default provider will be selected on a new install, but I care that once I have made my choice and I upgrade Ubuntu, that this choice is not changed. That would remind me too much of work when there is a Windows Update and that those darn “Microsoft Links” appears again and again in my Favorites or that my default browser or search engine is changed! I do not mind that IE is the default navigator on Windows, but I mind that if I then later choose Firefox to be the one, that an update breaks it!
Note: if during upgrade I am proposed with a message telling me that Ubuntu wants to change my search provider and displays a list of such providers (even with one recommended one), then I would be real happy, even I could give a go to another search engine! It is just a matter of making the user experience smooth and maintaining the user confidence and trust in the system.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-desktop/2010-January/002398.html
“> Since Google is the current default, will the switch to Yahoo only
> have an effect on new installs?
No, this will effect upgrades if the computer is currently set to
Google. This is not because of anything special for this particular
change. This is because Ubuntu always changes to new defaults for users
who are on old defaults.
However, if you are set to wikipedia as your search provider (for
example) then that means that you are no longer using the default, so
Ubuntu won’t change you to the new default.
”
So for your point 4, it seems that if you _didnt_ customise it, i.e. you still have the _default_ of Google then you’ll get the _new_ default of Yahoo!. If you did customise it then you’ll keep whatever you customised it to.
Most people are probably using the _system_ default of Google. Very few will have changed from the system default of Google to a user default of Google. Once the system default changes to Yahoo!, those people using the system default will notice a change. Those few people who manually set their default engine to Google won’t see a change.
I, for one, welcome these changes. I have used yahoo recently in the past, and I use that and Gmail as my email providers, and if it helps support Canonical, and in turn Ubuntu, then I, for one, will gladly accept the changes! I’m going to start right away!
At least now Ubuntu has the attention of big search engines (Helping Google with ChromeOS, and now this), looks like Ubuntu has a bright future ahead of it!
Isn’t Yahoo! powered by, or soon to be powered by, Bing?
So… Microsoft is now keeping Canonical afloat?
My worry is that I have made a choice in what my default search is from that bar on my machines.
Why is it right or fair for Canonical to decide on an upgrade that my choice of default search engine is changed?
Going forward if Canonical strikes a deal with Visa will we see our chosen wallpaper change on an upgrade to thier logo? (Sorry to give anyone that idea)
If you make a choice to change from Google to something else then during the upgrade your setting won’t be touched. This is just one setting that will change in the upgrade. It seems people get quite stressed about the browser, yet don’t notice settings in (for example) the System menu, or perhaps the default storage location of documents.. The browser is a warzone!
People that use the system menu regularly notice the changes. I’ve never noticed the default location of documents change during an upgrade in the programs that I use.
I use my browser nearly every day. The choices in it are a part of my workflow. If Google is my default search engine I’ve got it as part of my workflow. Because it is also the Ubuntu default does not mean that I want the next Ubuntu default to override that choice.
I would think that if a default is going to change that will affect a majority of users during an upgrade there should be a prompt explaining the change with an option. A simple ‘Click here to change to the new Yahoo search that will support the Ubuntu developers or Click here to continue using your current search engine’ prompt on the next Firefox launch is all that is needed and will ease the transition.
As it is the perception is/will be (as you allude to in your post) ‘Ubuntu broke my browser’ for many people.
The default search engine has to be _something_. Once upon a time someone set it to Google, and now it’s Yahoo! I don’t read this as corporate Desktop sponsorship.
This change will not bother me any more than it already bothers me having google chosen for me as the default search engine. One of the first things I change with nearly each firefox install is to change the search engine to ask.com. Ask is just as good as google in regard to search results and not near as onerous on the privacy front. It has always puzzled me as to why ask.com is treated like such a stepchild by mozilla in that it is not even included in a default install among the search engine options and has requires an add-on to be included in the list. Why do so very many people (especially free software enthusiasts) give google a “pass” on privacy issues which is clearly counter violates our “freedom”?
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4596
P.S. I would find yahoo less objectionable to google, though.
Ubuntu is going down the poop well.
They force mono on you which is a pathtic implementation of .net that the patent protection only protects those who get it from Novell. They are going to offer proprietary software, like you couldn’t go out and buy it yourself. Now they are making yahoo default, which is MS.
Glad i switched to Arch/Linux, at least i make the default decisions of what gets on my system. Oh, and i don’t use Google, yahoo, or Bing (they accuse GNU/Linux of having stupid names)…i use Startpage
I don’t get why they don’t just get rid of the search bar. I’ve only found it useful for getting to the Manage Search Engines dialog so I can set keywords for the different engines. It’s one of the best features in Firefox IMO, but it’s so hidden away that most people aren’t aware of it.
Yeah, I always forget about search keywords, but I switch between lots of machines so forget to set them up. Maybe if I had only one machine to use daily I might use it more.
Important question:
Does this make money for Canonical, even when I don’t click any yahoo ads?
Oops. Location of my comment makes no sense. Sorry about that.
I was going to say something about hardlinking .mozilla-firefox in an ubuntu-one shared folder
The revenue is generated when a search is performed with Yahoo!, not clicking on ads.
Time for someone to make an auto search perl script. Lets empty microsofts coffers.
Good to hear
Perhaps you guys can sell ad-space on gnome-panel? As long as it’s removable with one click, what’s the difference??
Changing upstream defaults for the benefit of canonical, the company, bugs me too.
No ads on the panel as we are not an ad supported distro. The Yahoo! adds a user experience benefit (searching for stuff), we could conceivable have no search bar, and also generates revenue for supporting the project. Generating revenue from an existing facility make sense, no?
2 clicks to fix it.
I have no problem with Canonical cashing this check.
Canonical have the right to make money. As fabulous and morally correct as FLOSS may be, good intentions alone are not enough to secure the development of GNU/Linux – and for this reason alone I subscribe to U1 just to help pay something back and financially support the distro I use.
So if signing a deal with Yahoo helps, then I’ m all for it. Although I do use Opera and http://www.duckduckgo.com anyway….
Will the default search provider still be switched if the ubufox package is removed before upgrading?
Just so everyone knows, Kubuntu isn’t switching, so please, come join the greatest distro ever!
Note: We looked at switching, but in Konqueror, our default browser, Yahoo doesn’t even work, so you are safe for now!
Konqueror is an EPIC FAIL, it slows down KDE users growth rate…
Canonical took the money, but an option to switch to google is left for the users, it takes about 30 seconds to switch, so everyone is happy
! Whats the big deal, anyway?!
regards
Whatever makes Ubuntu $$$ | I’m fine with that !!
on Karmic-Koala with Fresh Install i got default search engine is “Ask.com”
So, other than changes in default search engine & start page
we will aslo see changes in google ads ?
You people are all missing the big picture here. Yahoo search SUCKS! Even Bing is better than Yahoo and its one of the worst search engines available.
Alsta-Vista and Lycos search were 1000 times better than Yahoo will ever be.
So, what is the worth of this deal?
How much money per search do they get?
I think it’s a bad deal in a long run. Most people anyway use Google search engine and will continue to do so because they are used to it and it’s simply better. More and more people will be using Chrome browser, I already do.
And generally it’s not good to worsen the relationship with Google, more so because they are more friendly towards Linux than Yahoo!/Microsoft are.
Google knows too much about them? How did Google get all this info about them? I can guarantee it wasn’t without the user’s help. I can also guarantee Bing and Yahoo know just as much.
Speaking of which. Yahoo is Bing, or will be soon. Yahoo, the 2nd rated search engine is being supplanted by Bing, a 3rd rated search engine and Ubuntu is jumping all over that. Makes sense? Not to me.
WHAT??!! THEY CANT DO THIS!! THIS IS….okay nevermind. I can’t do it with a straight face.
This is news huh?
Wonder if it will stop the random freeze ups I get with Inkscape…
More backing the better I guess, as long as it some how improved the actual quality of the software. Oh, and Slackware. That is all.
I will just change it right back.
Google bought Ubuntu 9.10 to make chrome os, now Yahoo! wants one too.
Its the age of commercial Linux desktops owned by smily companies. Its all good, make sure you get useta chrome br. .
Heh, glad to see Ubuntu is making some bank. At any rate I will quick install Chrome on any Ubuntu system… so firefox can use what ever default search it wants to (and it is an easy swap)
~Jeff
i rather prefer altavista
I’ll simply switch it back to Google.
I don’t really care, default search for me is (and will alway be) Wikipedia. Homepage is currently google…
I am extremely disappointed by this move. Enough of Canonical gimmicks. Ubuntu is no longer that holier-than-thou OS. Maybe it should sell out to Microsoft or Apple now that values have taken a back seat.
If you ask me, if Canonical were so desperate for funds, I am more than willing to put up Pepsi/Coca Cola wallpapers to help them do it. Canonical is trying to make this a no-big-deal kind of thingy. But I’m sure, like me many will now be questioning Ubuntu’s importance and its relevance to the development of Linux as an open-source OS, standing up tall inspite of pressures from giants like Microsoft and Apple.
Canonical gimmicks? I fail to see how this is a gimmick and indeed can’t think of any other actions they have done that could be seen as gimmicks either. Maybe I’m to close to notice, enlighten me.
As for ‘holier-than-thou’, I don’t think Ubuntu is, or indeed aspires to be that. It’s always shipped non-free binary blobs in the form of firmware (for example for DVB cards) and makes it easy to install non-free software. Surely Debian, gNewsense or Gentoo would be better with that moniker.
So they are breaking the internet for a lot of users, for money.
it seems that Microsoft will be paying people for using Ubuntu
I prefer Google and I know more then 70% of the people in Ubuntu Community will prefer Google.
Seems a bit daft to me.
The large majority of people use google as their search engine.
If Canonical wants Ubuntu to continue to become more mainstream, a move like this isn’t going to help garner support. It fits with the ‘fugly’, ‘niche’, ‘odd’, stereotype that some people associate with a linux desktop.
Rather than switch for them, it’s better to encourage people to make the switch themselves. This is the kind of behaviour that led people to hate Microsoft.
I am with ubuntu ..whatever ubuntu does it would be fine .. but i cant understand why canonical did this
Ubuntu is the most used distro by far and this change will be be noticeable. Yahoo is working to increase their market share.
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[...] روابط ذات صلة [...]
[...] a few days ago, we heard that Yahoo is getting distribution on Ubuntu: Yahoobuntu!!! | popey.com blog. The default search provider for new installations of Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) and upgrades will be [...]
[...] myself and I’m sure a Windows version will be most welcome by many around the globe. Neither am I bothered about the Yahoo search thing (If Canonical can get money from Microsoft then that’s just [...]
[...] been a lot of noise recently in the Ubuntu community about the announcement that Canonical is planning to switch the default search engine and home page in Firefox to Yahoo! [...]
Microsoft to provide default Ubuntu search?…
A while back I noted from Popey’s blog that Canonical are changing the default search engine in the next version of Ubuntu to Yahoo!. I don’t think I’ve been particularly impressed with the Yahoo! search since the 90’s sometime,…