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Exclusive - Yahoo Using Dirty Tactics to Switch Google & Firefox Users?

marketingpilgrim.com — The power struggle between Yahoo and Google for your desktop just took an evil turn, with evidence that suggests Yahoo is covertly trying to switch Google search users without their explicit permission.

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  • skored, on 10/12/2007, -18/+77At this point Yahoo! needs to do whatever they can to get some people using their search engine - so this does not surprise me at all...
    • cyn0sure, on 10/12/2007, -72/+10It's not shady, it's fully disclosed. No digg, especially for the emotional headline (got Fox?), but thanks for playing submitter.
    • socalrob, on 10/12/2007, -40/+11This is why I use Trillian.
    • GoodGod, on 10/12/2007, -35/+8they're just jealous 'cause google uses the double "o"'s from yahOO
    • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -29/+1like buy Flickr which most diggers here use or depend on for pictures of shyt with broken links
    • MajorD, on 10/12/2007, -2/+37@ Skored. - Maybe. But many programs are now being distributed (CCleaner, Acrobat, Norton Internet Security 2007) with an option to install the Yahoo toolbar. That's a little much in my opinion; especially when the afforementioned program's installation programs have a checkbox which is "checked" in order to install the toolbar (as opposed to not being "checked")
    • anchorman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+94@skored

      No, Yahoo needs to deliver a better search experience and earn users legitimately.

      I used to use Yahoo mail. Google created a better email service and I switched. Google earned my loyalty because the product was better.
    • ScornForSega, on 10/12/2007, -8/+127@skored

      They could start by pulling all that ***** off their homepage. Do I give a ***** what the critics think of Justin Timberlake's acting? Do I care if David Beckham is worth $250 million? And do I give a good god damn about a breakfast food that helps me eat less?

      ***** NO, I just wanted to search the internet.

      Google >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yahoo.
    • neoform, on 10/12/2007, -12/+7Does it surprise you that this story is... EXCLUSIVE?!
    • digga, on 10/12/2007, -12/+9@scornforsega

      http://search.yahoo.com/
    • lcohiomatty86, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5@scornforsega

      http://search.yahoo.com/

      oopps.. i guess digga beat me to it..

      ha, that is kinda funny that we both said the exact same thing at almost the same time...
    • Splizxer, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5In my personal experience, Yahoo usually has more relevant results, but I use google more often because it has a better interface (ie not a lot of garbage ads).
    • scottschiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10There is a war out there for your browser's search settings, as the screenshots in the article show - both Yahoo! and Google will notify you if you (or someone else), changes your search settings. I personally don't like the practice, but I don't seem to have much say in the matter - both companies are doing it. (I work at the former, but not on search-related things.)

      At least it isn't like the old days of RealPlayer et al, 50+ checkboxes you had to find and uncheck. (Yet.. knock on wood, etc.) ;)
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Only thing yahoo has going for them is flickr and delicious
    • cooldudevamsee, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Its all about brand.
      Grannies don't care about who is doing good.
      Techies don't care about who is doing evil.
    • cooldudevamsee, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Every time Microsoft hears the word "CSS" its pisses in its pants.

      There are lot of rumors around why Microsoft is not supporting web standards because companies like google will come up with free on-line live applications which will kill Microsoft desktop applications.

      Microsoft is trying hard to kill CSS and push their own crappy standards.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0They have about 10 times the market share in search engines that Apple has in computers. So, which one is desperate?
    • steeel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The only thing that Yahoo is good at is to help the Chinese government arrest reporters who speak against their government.

      After they did that, I decided to boycott them forever.
    • kmckanna, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0I am a very big fan and I pay my patronage to Google everyday.

      However, I do think Yahoo is being a bit odd, but it's not like Google hasn't done the same thing secretly most likely.

      Plus, there is no rule against overriding someones Search Engine preferences if they click "YES FIX MY SETTINGS," because obviously there will be a change from the previous settings. It's all a part of competition and that's how the world works, so get used to it.

    • Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@cooldudevamsee's second post
      Wrong article. (I assume you wanted to post at http://digg.com/software/Microsoft_Takes_Email_Design_Back_Five_Years ).
  • truemarketing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23I'm not surprised. I am surprised though that it took this long :)
  • MacNTT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+65It is too bad though. User choice should be based on quality of service, not who has the sneakiest programmers. :-/
    • malavalla, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Yahoo and Google are is a business that we know is constantly changing , both are powerhouses. they will be going back and forth many years from now.we will still auguring over them along with Bill and Steve. digging and enjoying the same story's 25 years from now.
  • ScottWhigham, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21They've been doing this sort of crap for the last few versions (or releases, whatever) of Yahoo IM. I walked my wife through an install of Yahoo about six months ago over the phone and the same thing happened then. Not new but definitely anti-customer. Yahoo = Netscape?
  • Alfdog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+55Instead of learning from the competitors that are beating them, they do something totally AOLish... how brilliant.
    • JAGUART, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Its it any wonder that there's talk of an AOL-Yahoo merger with these tactics and their Web 2.0 BS that screwed with the Yahoo TV Guide and other features? I see a real trend here toward AOLism that will soon drive me to Google.
    • t3soro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@JAGUART:
      Soon? why not now?
  • ArthurSucks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+53Another reason to use Gaim?
  • zipzot, on 10/12/2007, -46/+4It was interesting to see their respective big cheeses on stage one after another at the Macworld keynote this year. Apple is smart....let's pit the competition against each other so that we get the best and least expensive partner to support us on this iPhone launch
    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Check the story you are commenting on.
    • MikeOSX, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5I dont get why he is getting dug down. Both of the CEO's were at the Macworld Conference, and it was pretty neat to see them sharing the same stage, albeit at different times.
    • kevinarth, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9he's getting dugg down because his comments have absolutely nothing to do with this post.
    • ingxia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why? The connection I see is the irony of how at the keynote, the Google and Yahoo CEOs seemed to be working together for the development of the iPhone, yet behind stage they are fighting dirty, (hopefully not literally).
  • vidluther, on 10/12/2007, -12/+17Try having Yahoo! as your default engine, and then install Google Toolbar, see what it does. This is business as usual.

    These aren't the conspiracies you're looking for, move along.
    • jarrodhunt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26vidluther,

      Google isnt auto-updating their millions of users to the Yahoo/Microsoft version of IE7 with no warning.

      Not saying Google wouldnt do that, just that they are not currently. Mainly because they dont have millions of IM users.

      But none-the-less, Yahoo is being super tricky about upgrading people to IE7.

    • ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20"Would you like to switch your default search engine to Google?"
      "Your browser search settings have been changed or disabled. Do you want to fix the settings and change back to Yahoo?" after changing your default browser to IE7.

      The first is business as usual. The second is definitely not.
    • TyeDyeShadow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5You're correct in that Google tries to set itself as IE's default search engine. Difference is, you are *asked* and prompted with a dialog box giving you the option. To be fair, I think the same happened when I installed YM, but it was long ago...

      Either way, maybe one needs to pay attention to those things when installing new software, eh?

      -> Thanks for backing me up, ccanni...
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -22/+2Bullshty I just downloaded Yahoo IM 1 weeks ago and no IE 7 download came up anyhow most companies do this look at Realplayer pumping Google tool bar and aol on ya
    The only people that fall for this are Idiots who dont know A google toolbar from a yahoo one
    this is another front page anti-yahoo story for diggers to get in a orgy over something about google
    to bad most of you still use Yahoo flickr
    • CanOfMDAmp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7If you are going to insult large groups of people from behind a keyboard, please spell correctly.

      It adds a lot to your credibility.
    • cheeseboy001, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1How can I put this?

      haha what are you 12 lol blocked LOL!!1!

      There.
  • tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I use yahoo messenger (along with Gaim), and I haven't had this problem. My default browser is still Firefox, my home page in both browsers (IE7 & FF) are Google.

    I mentioned Firefox, and Google, might as well mention Apple.
    • jarrodhunt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This happens with the new "live" version of Yahoo Messenger. Not sure about the other versions
    • tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yeah, I'm using the latest version of YM (8.1), the one that lets you chat with Windows "Live" users.
    • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5you forgot Linux
  • ssalt, on 10/12/2007, -14/+7http://www.duggmirror.com
  • AMSRay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25I've also noticed a dirty trick on a few computers whose users had installed both the Yahoo and Google toolbars. If you choose to disable the Yahoo tool bar, it actually disables the Google toolbar. The first couple of times I thought it was my mistake, but after testing I found it is actually working that way.
    • Dmitrik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3At my school, if there are 2 toolbars installed and I disable Yahoo! one - my browser crashes.
      No problem with disabling Google toolbar though.
  • fuze44, on 10/12/2007, -9/+7Evil? If we describe a tricky maneuver like this as evil, then how shall we describe those like Saddam and Hitler? Really, let's keep things in their proper light.
    • clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Google is to the Swedish Bikini Team as Yahoo is to Hitler.

      Better?
    • Pix869, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Evil = malevolent, secretive, immoral, or odd ways at obtaining self-profit at another's expense.
  • Antiproton, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Did we break the page? Poor page.
  • clickwir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Considering that the "Search" industry has much more at stake than just making a few bucks from ads, they can learn and plot the masses ways of thinking. And once you understand and can study something, you can then start to manipulate it, change it to benefit you.
  • libranlover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7This does not happen if you download and install Yahoo Messenger. However, AFTER I had installed and continued using YM for many days, I received a prompt to auto-update. I thought only YM was being updated and accepted the auto-update prompt. It did everything that's been described in this article, including changing the default search engine (I did not receive any warnings about this). In addition, it installed Yahoo! tool bar on my system, once again without any prompts or warning. I already have IE7. So, I can't say if it downloads and installs IE7.
  • baalzebub, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8yahoo has been a ghetto for years, chatrooms filled with pornbots, yahoo had to cancel or overhaul the news/comments/messageboards...

    yahoo = web portal ghetto

    google will be just like yahoo in a few years too as google is slowly sliding down that same slippery slope...
    • surfing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2And they are paying Macromedia > Adobe millions to include the Yahoo! toolbar into the Flash Player...
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Google has as clean a front page now as ever. You can certainly personalise your content or run a few totally optional web apps but there's no assault on your bandwidth and time like Yahoo is.

      //edit - and their search is better.//
    • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yahoo is the same as msn
      crap you dont realy want to see but your stuck with it
      google is just search and then the more button
  • commiecat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Give me a break - this isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. It's not like Google doesn't do anything sneaky to push their products. Whenever we install IrfanView or update Java on a client machine it installs Google Toolbar by default and asks to install Google Desktop. We find a good amount of users that install Google Desktop without even realizing it when they update their Java on their own. I've also seen people with Yahoo! toolbar installed without users realizing it. Both companies are doing as much as they can so that people use their products.

    I love Google as much as anyone and have long preferred their search to Yahoo!'s but I'm surprised at how anti-Yahoo! so many Diggers seem to be. I guess most people don't remember the time before Google. Give some credit to the company that had a robust search engine before Google and offered online maps and email before Google as well. Google has just about perfected all the services they offer but the rewards they reap are from the seeds that Yahoo! sowed.
    • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1i hate the yahoo - walmart-type mascot
    • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@commiecat
      its mostly kids on here thats new to the net they dont even know Yahoo owns Flickr but use the hell out of it but at the same time bash yahoo WOW
    • w0rd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Why do your users have rights to install toolbars? Lock those boxes down.
    • MySchizoBuddy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5if irfanview and java installs google toolbar then go bitch at irfanview and Sun.
      If Adobe acrobat reader installs yahoo toolbar go bitch at adobe
      If Yahoo messenger installs Yahoo IE7 then we HAVE to bitch at Yahoo

      Get the idea.
    • Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@drjekelmrhyde

      Flickr was originally developed by Ludicorp, a company based in Vancouver, Canada.

      Yahoo bought Flickr (and del.icio.us). I'm pretty sure the only reason Yahoo didn't crap all over Flickr was because they retained the staff.
  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Suddenly my firefox menu had a yahoo label. Damn sneaky tactics.
  • spoozer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3God dammit, I wish I knew what innocuous meant
  • fallenone05, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5LOL, you weak, pathetic fools; Yahoo is my homepage, I choose the dark side...
  • sjbdallas, on 10/12/2007, -17/+4No digg, inaccurate. This is by no means a sneaky tactic, every vendor assumes that if you use one product then you must use all the rest.
    • KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7maybe 6 years ago that was the case.
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4No that's just MS, by assume I'm sure you mean force.
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -11/+8The guy is Lying to get to the front page here's proof I just redownloaded the newest version of Yahoo im
    http://i11.tinypic.com/3ycgyt1.jpg
    http://i18.tinypic.com/2hrcvhl.jpg
    Smart on his part to play on the emotions of Digger who just love google
    • ssalt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7What average know-nothing computer user is going to click on the custom install link? The article is referring to doing the typical install that most computer users are going to do, and how it changes settings such as your search engine and homepage without asking.
    • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Hold on this guy had enough computer sense to write a BLOG pretty sure his wife is computer savy also
    • libranlover, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7This does not happen if you download and install YM on your own (assuming custom install). It happens when you let the auto-update prompt update your YM. Once I accepted auto-update, it did not show me any more prompts or warnings. Just did everything that's been described in the article.
    • Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Hold on this guy had enough computer sense to write a BLOG pretty sure his wife is computer savy also"

      You see, he's not writing about the "techie" way. He's writing about the "regular user" way to install Yahoo! Instant Messenger. Who will most likely click "Typical Install".
  • joshua5, on 10/12/2007, -11/+6"Upon doing so, they’ll find their homepage is now switched to Yahoo as the default!"

    Oh my gosh! Everybody panic!

    lol you people are such dorks
  • basictheory, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Inaccurate.

    This is the Yahoo! version of IE, the same one that we all saw when Google copied the html from that yahoo site. Seriously what did you expect??

    If you don't like it, use the Google or Microsoft version.
    • MySchizoBuddy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1u dind't read it did ya
      it says it automatically installs IE7 without u knowing about it
  • rstevens, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7FireFox is just plain better.

    For years I fought using FireFox, but he developer tools and add-ons made it a joy to use. I use it now exclusively and can easily turn on friends by showing them the advantages, or the add-ons that make their life happier. The new IE 7 is a clunky, bug-riddled nightmare. If Yahoo has done any "dirty tricks", they've done the world a big favor.

    • Somniis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yeah, and FF is not bloated? Haha.

      I don't use IE7 or FF, but when I did use IE7, it used less memory and did not ever crash. What bugs?
  • AICWebmaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Learn to use your computer and things like this won't happen!!!
  • zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I dunno about Y! or Google being evil, but I'm definitely convinced that auto-updaters are indeed evil. I'll update my software when I'm bloody ready to update my software. I don't need a baby-sitter running in the background and making an annoyance of itself.
    • magnoliasouth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@zizzybaloobah
      Man I so agree with you! That's the first thing I do when I install anything, disable all the stupid auto-updaters. The only one I allow to auto-update is Firefox and it's extensions. The rest I just don't use often enough for it to check. I read tech news daily so if there is a security threat, I can plug it. Outside of that, software's so called "new features" only make it bigger and slower and I'd rather not, thank you. The second in line would be running at start up. Grrrr.
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Average user downloads program (like acrobat reader?) and just hits next next next finish. And they end up with the yahoo toolbar
    • dotlizard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5& even non-average users (sleep-deprived, easily distracted geek types), in a moment of weakness, have been known to click next next next finish, thus inadvertently inflicting that wretched toolbar on themselves. not that that's ever happened to me, no. i am always alert & cautious when i navigate an installation wizard, especially when running routine updates, and i *always* read the licensing agreements & TOCs.

      sneak-installs are sleazy & disrespectful, and in general are a prime indicator that the product is crap and the company mission involves screwing the userbase. but hey, i've despised Yahoo since that incident a few years back when they "updated" their user base and "as a convenience" switched everyone's profile to 'opt-in'.
  • meaniketd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I have seen viruses getting attached to yahoo toolbar....especially yahoo messenger
  • chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Shouldn't Yahoo just cry foul and demand the when you goto Google.com it asks you if you would like to search using Yahoo - as Google pissed and moaned about with a MS product *gasp* defaulting to a MS search engine.
  • x00x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ho hum. This is small potatoes compared to what the telecoms did in the 89s-90s. They'd be "slamming" millions of phone accounts switching
    your long distance carrier without permission.
    • subliminalurge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Slamming has by no means disappeared. (I work in the telecom industry.)

      It's nowhere near as prevalent these days as it was in the 90's, yet every month my company still gets 10 to 20 of our phone lines slammed.
  • Kickersny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The only thing good about Yahoo! is Yahoo! Pool.
  • meaniketd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1yahoo dont bring anything new out they just compete..when gmail gave unlimited mail space yahoo followed them
  • hwdeath, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Anyone remember Hotbot?
  • jarva, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1this isn't news, Yahoo! has been doing things like this for a long time (who uses Yahoo! Messenger anyway?).
  • Bluebuilder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3People are missing a critical point in this process. The problem IS NOT when you download Yahoo messenger, there it DOES give you the appropriate options to choose to install or not install the toolbar and search settings.

    The problem is later, which can happen in a couple of days, when Yahoo asks you to automatically "UPDATE" There with one click (Yes/No), and no options to choose what will be installed does all this happen.

    This is what is shady about the entire thing.
  • madmax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I emailed yahoo and I expect everyone else to do the same..here is the site for feedback

    http://cgi.yahoo.com/bin/feedback?t=experience
  • confundido, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I also experienced this. Accepted what I thought was an update to Yahoo Messenger, found my IE7 home page had been switched to Yahoo and that the Yahoo toolbar had appeared.

    The only "prompt" had been a tiny little link-esque looking thing I could have clicked on to presumably set install options. One doesn't usually expect default settings to be impacted by a mere update so I didn't click.

    Maybe Google does this too, I dunno, but I think they've always prompted and made proposed pref changes clear.

    This Yahoo move seemed like such banal spyware tactics that I deinstalled the whole Yahoo blob. I didn't have that many Yahoo friends anyhow...
  • foxmajik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2> They could start by pulling all that ***** off their homepage. Do I give a ***** what the critics think of Justin Timberlake's acting?

    Yeah, they should have more articles about Wii straps.
  • mincus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Whats with the "ordisabled" being joined together in the picture? Is that just the JPEG compression messing it up? Seems fishy honestly.
  • greenbowlball, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This pretty much sums up what I think about Yahoo right now.

    http://www.gotuit.com/player/index.html?c=SM_Comedy&t=2616&s=26016
  • DYMongoose, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've always had a sneaky suspicion of Yahoo! products, especially their toolbar.
  • munit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1and what are people gonna do about it? nothing, so who cares
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In the past I've just treated Yahoo users as confused but harmless people. Now whenever I see anything Yahoo I will have to point out their spyware tendancies and make a point of it.
  • ethicalbypass, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Not very usual with me, but this article angered me so much that I was seconds short of uninstalling the Yahoo Messenger forever. This is plain not-done. What exactly were they thinking? Yes, we all know there are users out there (most) who are not all that tech savvy or aware. But shouldn't big companies like Yahoo, MS, Google etc. try to educate them instead of taking them for a ride? This is Sad.
    • GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A clever consumer rejects brand loyalty and knows when they are being screwed. Why on earth would a dominant company want to do this.
  • GaffleSnipe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yahoo is for sucks. They start looking more and more like AOL every day.
  • fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I call FUD, *****, etc.

    Is Google starting to become the new evil empire so fast that they have to resort to lying about their competitors to keep people from switching away?

    Typical.
    • underpenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0*****? It's ***** that people don't want the "don't change my settings" button to change their settings? yeah....I think I'll never install anything on my computers made by Sony or Yahoo. Why not just make a product that doesn't suck balls instead of making people use it?

    • worbd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Um, did everyone miss the Google dialog doing the same thing? This guy installed the Yahoo Toolbar, and like the Google toolbar changes the default to Google, it changes the default search to Yahoo. If you change the setting, Yahoo alerts you and Google alerts you.

      How is Yahoo evil here but not Google when they are doing the same thing?
  • nemoblack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0After reading the article, I decided to post a message to a Yahoo list that I moderate listing the URL for the article and notifying list members using Yahoo IM that they may wish to read the article to be aware of possible changes to their browser settings. I also listed the URL GAIM as a alternative to Yahoo IM. The message was tagged as Spam by Yahoo and required moderator approval to post, so as moderator I approved it :)

    I've also seen messages when accessing Yahoo pages stating that the pages is best viewed with IE7.
    • magnoliasouth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@nemoblack
      That's rather shocking and quite frankly, offensive. So you then allowed the message right? Did you inform your list what Yahoo had done? What were the general list thoughts? Just out of curiosity.

      It's to the point that I don't trust Yahoo at all. I remember the days when I thought Yahoo was so very cool, but those days are quite over now. Google rocks at this point, but hopefully they won't turn into another Yahoo one day.
  • farksucks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6This story is a load of crap. google distributes the google toolbar with the single most common plugin on the entire internet, macromedia (now adobe) flash player. They also distribute it with Sun's Java runtime, which is probably the second most popular. And guess what- the checkbox to install the toolbar is CHECKED BY DEFAULT.

    Do you guys have even the slightest idea how tiny the fraction of people who know how to do anything on their computer other than click the "OK" button?

    And btw, Google's toolbar will change the search box that comes standard on IE7, and point it to- you guessed it- google.

    And let's not forget that big issue last year where "someone" at google "accidentally" inserted some code into the adsense frame that asked every single internet user on planet earth who happened to be surfing a page with google ads if they wanted to install or update Flash. This happened 2 days after Google signed a contract with Macromedia to include the google toolbar with their Flash player. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but that "accident" probably installed several hundred million copies of the Google toolbar overnight. There was a HUGE firestorm over this on the webmasterworld forums, and eventually Google announced it was all just a mistake. A mistake that to this day is making them hundreds of millions of dollars every few months. I wish I could make "mistakes" like that.

    Look- just go to any non-techie's office or home and look at their computer. They're all filled with spyware, adware, multiple toolbars, and since there is ABSOLUTELY NO LAW ON THE BOOKS ABOUT "DEFAULTS" then every company out there uses every trick in the book to make their search engine or webpage the default.

    Did you know that 90% of dell computer users are still using the dell homepage as their startup screen, because it never occurred to them that it could be changed? Michael Dell bragged about it in an interview a few months back. It was a source of pride! MSN is the most popular site in the world because it's the default IE homepage, and I promise you everything I own that your grandmother most certainly doesnt have a CLUE how to change her homepage.

    The future of Web 2.0 is all about getting the default. You get the default, and you get the ad eyeballs. There aren't any laws, rules, or regulations about how you get them. Google is just as guilty as yahoo. Because in the end, none of these companies care about anything but the dollars.
    • worbd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Why bury this guy when he's putting things in perspective?

      Yahoo does this, but so does Google. How does it make Yahoo evil, but not Google?

      Instead of burying critical comments, how about responding instead?
    • Somniis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It is also funny to note that Google is the default "search bar" (to the right of the address bar) in both Opera and Firefox. Heh....
    • Taorluath, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Because we hate yahoo and all that it stands for. (Not being Google)
    • stupidfathead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Cool, I'm a tiny fraction!
  • farksucks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0And the most hypocritical part of all of this is that Google execs went to Washington DC last year to lobby Congress, for the SOLE PURPOSE of trying to convince Congress to make IE7's search box with a default msn/live search engine *illegal.*

    They said it was anti-competitive for a company to try and control the default search of millions of users. Meanwhile, Google is doing that very thing with the Google toolbar they bundle with every application they can get their hands on. BTW- Congress told them to get lost, and rightly so.

    And oh yes, Google pays handsomely to get application writers to bundle that toolbar. The amount they paid for the Flash plugin must have been ungodly.
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