I’m surpsied (but obviously shouldn’t be) that that many potential users would instantly bounce off Firefox instead of changing the default search engine.
Comment on Firefox lost users during “failed” Yahoo search deal, says Mozilla CEO
evanuggetpi@lemmy.nz 1 year ago
Another interesting comment
!Mozilla’s takeaway from the experiment was that Firefox "users made it clear that they look for and want and expect Google.”!<
Sigma_@lemmy.world 1 year ago
UnspecificGravity@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
Honestly, the association with Yahoo just makes the platform look like a joke. Like, the first time you do a search and it pops up as Yahoo your first instinct is thinking you’re using the wrong thing.
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yup it could be literally anything else but yahoo
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Nothing binds me to my browser besides my bookmarks which can be exported, my addons which are usually on both platforms and my history.
At home and on my phone I use FF and am mostly happy.
At work I choose Chrome because most websites work best in it.
HipPriest@kbin.social 1 year ago
It's not really that surprising that the average user wants the most popular search engine instead of yahoo (of all things) baked in, whatever your views on Google.
PlexSheep@feddit.de 1 year ago
Im also not convinced. If it were a DDG default it would just make the browser better.
To be clear, I’m not even using DDG as my main search.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
DDG is just Bing on the backend. Why is the megacorp Microsoft preferable to the megacorp Google?
smallaubergine@kbin.social 1 year ago
I was under the impression that DDG is pretty private and while underlying search is Bing, bing can't track the searches to individuals
Contend6248@feddit.de 1 year ago
Maybe not the individual, but you’re still training an internet giant, just a different one.
zephr_c@lemm.ee 1 year ago
That’s not really true. It uses multiple sources, including their own search engine, to give results. Basically the only thing they don’t include is Google. In practice Bing often produces the majority of the results, but it’s not “just Bing on the backend”. I mean, DDG is older than Bing after all, so it would be a little weird if they didn’t have their own search engine.
Even if it was just a frontend for Bing that wouldn’t really be a bad thing. Ecosia is, and that’s a pretty good search engine. Being one of millions of users all privately receiving the same anonymized results already makes Bing much less problematic.
kenbw2@lemmy.world 1 year ago
DDG is older than Bing after all
Bing as a brand, sure. But Bing was just a rebranded Windows Live Search, which was a rebranded MSN Search
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So what if it didn’t use Bing at launch? It wasn’t privacy-focused then, either. I’m talking about the present, not the past.
Do you have a response to my point that the data is just going to different megacorp?
PlexSheep@feddit.de 1 year ago
I’d also be fine with Startpage, want, whatever. They have to use something and they can’t exactly make some poor selfhosters searing instance the Firefox default
registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 1 year ago
To be honest I find that hard to believe, but who knows? It’s a crazy world after all.
sir_reginald@lemmy.world 1 year ago
that’s not really Mozilla’s fault, user’s are too locked into Google and that’s ultimately Google’s fault.
Although I don’t like at all that Mozilla is funded by Google and testified in their favor.
otter@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I saw it more as testifying about why they did what they did
They basically said ‘we had to use Google to survive, they have that much control over the space’
Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m of two minds. I use Firefox for privacy reasons and don’t use Google if I can avoid it, but I have to admit that chrome was leagues better than other popular browsers at the time. It’s no accident that they ran away with the market share even when IE was on everyone’s computer by default.
Now they’ve gotten huge and their search engine has gone to shit. So it goes with infinite growth. I’m with Firefox for now, but I’ve learned the hard way not to totally trust any piece of software.
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You can export EVERYTHING, Forward email, and have alternatives for every thing. It’s incredibly easy to move away from Google.
It’s a choice. There is no lock in.
sir_reginald@lemmy.world 1 year ago
oh definitely. I haven’t uses a Google service in 5 years. But Google’s lock in is not forced, is the one that relies on people tech illiteracy, comfort and not knowing better.
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I disagree. It’s easier to use.
Look I have commits to PHP, python, cncf, and hasicorp shit. Running that stuff takes effort and skill. I design and implement multicloud fail over resiliency apps professionally. I have zero fucking desire to run jellyfin at home.
Google offers variable services and you don’t need to be a tech illiterate boomer to find value in the services they offer. I don’t want to have to explain why a raid failure lost 20 years of photos and Google is going to put a hell of a lot more effort into that than I will.