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Firefox Search In Ubuntu 10.04 Changed To Google
kai_hiwatari writes "Sometime back Canonical decided to change the default search in Firefox that comes Ubuntu 10.04 to Yahoo! from Google. In a surprising turn-around, Canonical have decided to a ditch Yahoo! for Google. Rick Spencer from Canonical announced that Google will now be the default Firefox search in Ubuntu 10.04, not Yahoo! as was previously decided."
I dont think any one would want Yahoo as default search
I think I'll have to Google that one.
If you're running Linux as your desktop OS, I suspect you have the necessary knowledge & skills to change the default search engine in your web browser
The switch to Yahoo was due to a revenue sharing deal. The switch back to Google was (reportedly) to stick users with a more "familiar" default.
So it sounds like Canonical is putting users first, which strikes me as a very good policy in the long-term, if they want to grow the user base.
Or maybe they just felt lucky.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
Fortunately one Canonical employee is prepared to share what they know with us: from TFA:
Rick Spencer, who announced the change back to Google, said that Canonical have decided to change back to Google after deciding that Google Search will be more familiar to a lot of users upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04...
Of course, you may choose not to believe that. But Canonical are providing an explanation.
This is where the serious fun begins.
Fortunately one Canonical employee is prepared to share what they know with us: from TFA:
Rick Spencer, who announced the change back to Google, said that Canonical have decided to change back to Google after deciding that Google Search will be more familiar to a lot of users upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04...
Of course, you may choose not to believe that. But Canonical are providing an explanation.
If "familiarity" was the issue, then why move the fsck'ing window buttons to the upper left? I don't buy that as an argument.
A clever person solves a problem, A wise person avoids it. -Einstein
I recommend that at install time, the user is presented with a window containing randomly ordered buttons for 6 of the top web search engines on the market today. By selecting one of the buttons, the user makes that search engine the default. This should keep everything fair and everyone happy.
(now we just need to find 6 search engines that people actually use)
This is a sig. It is appended to the end of comments I post.
Why? No, seriously, why?
Canonical is a for-profit business that builds a seriously kick-ass distro of Linux, and they put a lot of work into doing so, and they give it to you for free. They even let other smart people use their hard work to build derivatives like Mint.
If they can make a few sheckles from setting the default search engine in their distro, when anyone with opposable thumbs and an IQ over 50 can click on the search engine logo and choose another one, why should they be going to the trouble of programming a random-order list?
If they took away the choice list, or blocked all search engines but their "preferred" one, OK, I could see an objection. If choosing a new search engine was as hard as downloading and installing a browser, I could see an objection. But this is literally a two-mouseclick choice. Other than the "in random order" part, Ubuntu already provides exactly what you propose.
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