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The Next Java Update Could Make Yahoo Your Default Search Provider

Posted by samzenpus on from the feature-not-a-bug dept.

itwbennett writes: At the company's shareholder meeting on Wednesday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced a partnership with Oracle that could result in Yahoo becoming your default search provider in your browser. Starting this month, when users are prompted to update to the next version of Java, they'll be asked to make Yahoo their default search engine on Chrome (and Internet Explorer, for what it's worth). And, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the button will be checked by default, so if you aren't looking out for it, you might unwittingly find yourself a Yahoo user.

13 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. This will do WONDERS for Yahoo's image! by kelarius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seems to me like this will lump them in with Ask.com and other bullshit sites that drive traffic through mostly shady means. Giving up Marissa?

    --
    Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
    1. Re:This will do WONDERS for Yahoo's image! by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This. People just looove it when their homepage or search provider changes. Why, just the other day, a coworker told me how much he loved Bing coming back after every round of Windows updates.

      Oh, no, wait, he switched to Chrome because he hated it so much. Take the hint, Marissa.

      As an aside, though - Does anyone actually allow Java to update itself? Of all the common self-updating software out there, Java easily wins as the single most obnoxious. Aside from hijacking the top result when I type "update" in the start menu's search bar... Aside from running all the fucking time rather than just when Java starts... Aside from nagging the user more relentlessly than even the far more legitimate Windows update (Bing aside) - It actively breaks shit every time it updates. You had one job, Larry...

    2. Re:This will do WONDERS for Yahoo's image! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why, just the other day, a coworker told me how much he loved Bing coming back after every round of Windows updates.

      Windows Update doesn't do that. Microsoft's anti-malware tools sometimes do, if they detect that your default search provider or homepage have been changed to malware sites. Both Windows Defender and the Malicious Software Removal Tool get updated with Windows Update every month, so maybe that's why his settings kept being reset.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:This will do WONDERS for Yahoo's image! by ADRA · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a professional java developer who's 'led a number or fairly large scale Java projects', you never realized the JDK includes a fully functional JRE without ad-crap installed? Color me suspicious.

      --
      Bye!
  2. Assholes ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Gee, I'm awful glad I don't have Java on my personal machine any more.

    Because the sleazy bastards running it are mostly interested in their ad revenue.

    Here's a thought, guys ... how about you stop trying to change our browsers for your own benefit?

    Java is dying under the stewardship of Oracle. The sooner the better.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Assholes ... by buckfeta2014 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Java 8, which is the most vibrant and advanced Java release ever.

      Yeah, if your view of "vibrant" is puking on a pile of shit...

      --
      Buck Feta. You know what to do.
  3. Re:Hardly anything new by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The real news here is that Java is now officially crapware.

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

  4. Re:Yeah, for exactly one search by Daniel+Hoffmann · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is an evil practice born of corporate interests, just because it could be evilier does not mean we should turn a blind eye to it.

  5. Re:This is not news... by fnj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Oracle can package Java any way they want, including with "opt-outs." Downloading/installing Java is a voluntary choice the user makes.

    Apologist alert. So if you "voluntarily" choose to engage me to mount new tires on your car, does that mean you don't mind if I install a tracking device in cooperation with the NSA, if you fail to spot the tiny pre-checked box on page 678 of the paperwork? Because everyone should EXPECT tracker installation when they "voluntarily" choose to install new tires, right?

  6. Re: This is not news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But it's still evil. Okay, so there's a way to avoid it - nice. It's still a dick move to reconfigure the user machine like this.

    My machine has a default for a reason. I've set that default based on my preference. That you're changing my preference based on a totally unrelated action is a dick move. That you're changing it based on a required action is a double dick move. Java updates are *not optional* if you want to stay secure.

    Once software reaches this stage it's clearly a failed business venture. What next? We could always ship Java with malware to tap into some of those botnet dollars? How about we ship it with backdoors? How about shipping it with a keylogger? Is there anything else you'd like to ship it with?

    Fuck Java. I'll use C++, thanks.

  7. Sleazy as fuck by flopsquad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course I want to use a search provider that has to hijack my browser to gain any significant marketshare. Why would I want to use the search engine that works best for me, when Oracle can choose a shittier one for me?

    --
    Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
  8. Idiots. by prisoner-of-enigma · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, because tricking people and manipulating their settings without their full acknowledgement is a sure fire way to gain brand loyalty. Idiots.

    --
    In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  9. This is really big news by Minwee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think we're missing the real story here.

    The article is suggesting that Java update _actually works_ and is capable of _updating Java_.

    I can't remember the last time that was true.