Mozilla is evaluating Firefox usage by changing the default search engine to Bing

[jsilva]

In context: The search engine is a core part of any browser. All browsers come with a default search engine, like Chrome with Google, where both belong to the same company, or Mozilla Firefox, which uses an external one. In Firefox's case, it uses Google by default, but Mozilla is currently considering Bing as an alternative.

If you have been using Firefox and your default search engine changed, you might've been selected for Mozilla's latest study regarding search engines. From time to time, Mozilla runs studies to gather data so it can improve its user experience. The latest one we've learned about changes the browser's default search engine from Google to Bing.

Until now, this change has largely remained unnoticed, probably because it only affected less than one percent of desktop Firefox users. The study is expected to run throughout 2022 and will allow Mozilla "to better understand metrics around if and how desktop Firefox usage changes when the default search engine changes."

If you had your default search engine changed without your permission, you can revert back to your previous preference by going to "Settings" on the three-bar icon found on the top-right corner. Then, click "Search" in the left column and look for the "Default Search Engine" section. Once you've found it, select the search engine you want to use.

Firefox default search engines have mostly varied between Google and Yahoo. Before signing with Yahoo in 2014, Google was the default search engine. Yahoo's deal with Mozilla was supposed to last until 2023, but when Verizon acquired the search engine, Mozilla found a chance to go back to Google.

It has never been confirmed what contract Mozilla has with Google, but reports claim Firefox is bound to the search engine until 2023. The deal between both companies is estimated to be valued between $400 million and $450 million per year.

Image credit Nata Figueiredo

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/91395-mozilla-evaluating-firefox-usage-changing-default-search-engine.html

 

[Fearghast]

Mozilla acting like M$ and forcing a change via browser, well that's a new one.
Firefox is still my main, but if I ever see a change to Bing as a default, I will set it right back ... bing sux and literally never finds results I am looking for, especially if I am searching for versions in my language.

 

[RudyBob]

BING is OK.

 

[Tams80]

I use Bing. It's fine and Google are too busy trying to sell me stuff.

I also use Edge because it works fine and has some nice features. Occasionally I'll use Vivaldi just to give them some support in terms of usage. Firefox is just... eh.

 

[Bas Keur]

BING is OK.

Yeah keep telling that to yourself.

 

[Bas Keur]

I use Bing. It's fine and Google are too busy trying to sell me stuff.

I also use Edge because it works fine and has some nice features. Occasionally I'll use Vivaldi just to give them some support in terms of usage. Firefox is just... eh.

AdblockPlus helps, a lot.

 

[captaincranky]

Doesn't Mozilla routinely use this ploy when trey're trying to get more support money from Google?

 

[RudyBob]

Yeah keep telling that to yourself.

I don't know why someone would think I can't evaluate my needs. I can. BTW all I wrote was it's OK. OK does not mean stupendous

 

[amghwk]

I use Ublock Origin with Google search. It blocks any ads Google trying to push down the throat.

The Google search results are clean with the UO add-on.

Bing.... it's ... uh... kind of ... meh...

 

[Mr Majestyk]

I use startpage, encrypted google search engine without the data collection and ads. Bing is not horrible , but I prefer third party.

 

[psycros]

Duckduckgo is pretty much all I use now. Just as good as Google but without the ruthless censorship of free speech they don't approve it. Try it, you'll be amazed.

 

[McRuff]

Duckduckgo is pretty much all I use now. Just as good as Google but without the ruthless censorship of free speech they don't approve it. Try it, you'll be amazed.

I use DuckDuckGo as well. I have no interest in Bing and use Google if DuckDuckGo can't find what I am looking for. You must search for some really weird "free speech" stuff if you are finding that Google is censoring you.

 

[quadibloc]

Certainly if I found Bing searches turning up in my browser, which is Firefox, I'd change the default search engine to Google immediately. I wonder if that's what Mozila is finding that 99% of users are doing?

 

[Sausagemeat]

Does Bing actually stand for “Because It’s Not Google” or is that an urban myth?

I’d use Google to search for the answer but it’s probably biased.,

 

[ZedRM]

This is a very bad move for Mozilla. Not one I personally will allow on my PC.

 

[terzaerian]

Duckduckgo is pretty much all I use now. Just as good as Google but without the ruthless censorship of free speech they don't approve it. Try it, you'll be amazed.

I've used DDG as my daily search engine for years now. For 99% of searches it's more than good enough, if not better because it's not massaging and manipulating the search results the way Google does. They've also started adding widgets (like a calculator) directly into the search engine.

The only time I have to go back into Google is for very obscure meme searches at this point. Which is appropriate, seeing as Google is a complete joke.

 

[Danny101]

Duckduckgo is pretty much all I use now. Just as good as Google but without the ruthless censorship of free speech they don't approve it. Try it, you'll be amazed.

Same. But I have heard that Google owns it in a roundabout way. I don't know.

 

[captaincranky]

How exactly would you categorize this move other than, "out of the frying pan, and into the fire"?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Yeah keep telling that to yourself.

I don't have to tell myself that. When I search for something Bing finds it. The results speak for itself.

 

[captaincranky]

Same. But I have heard that Google owns it in a roundabout way. I don't know.

Well, in a roundabout way, Google does the same thing with Firefox. We had an article a few years back where it was said the Google was mostly keeping Mozilla afloat. Hence, Google owns the start page. (At least (allegedly) up to now). Who knows what state Mozilla's finances are, ATM.

This could be a ploy to have Google cut them a bigger check.

 

[captaincranky]

Does Bing actually stand for “Because It’s Not Google” or is that an urban myth?

I’d use Google to search for the answer but it’s probably biased.,

OK, let's be realistic. Any time you buy anything from anybody, on the web, you're their "friend for life". In fact, I don't even think you can send someone's email to the spam pile, if you've done business with them in the past 30 days. But, you might want to research that. I recall it from somewhere, although I don't remember where, "somewhere", was.

Let's face it, Amazon won't even let you off a product page without trying to sell you at least two more things.

Thus: "Frequently bought together", the item, plus blah, & blah. Half the damned time, they're trying to sell you something you just bought.

For example, you just bought a complete series DVD set. In the "Frequently bought together" meme, you're likely to see the same series, "season 2", when you just bought seasons 1 through 5.

If you shop on the web, you have to give credit card information. That's really all that worries me.

I usually have two browsers open at the same time. Firefox in "private mode", & Opera, not. All the "private mode" gives you, is less bullsh!t in the cache for CCleaner to get rid of.. And, Opera has a built in ad blocker, plus the "tab snooze" function already, that M$ is just now trying to push in "Edge"

Now, people have to ask themselves, "how malleable are my brains", and "how pathetic is my sales resistance", when they can't help but buy more crap, every time they get a junk email?

Ads and tracking are a fact of life today. Get over it.

I like Google, for the simple fact that their search algorithms return the results I ask for, almost no matter how abstractly I phrase the question. Talking to a Google server, is damned close to talking to another human being, and a human being which just happens to have a vast knowledge of the topic at hand at that.

So, I get two unsolicited ads on top of my email page. I haven't bought a damned thing from any one of them yet. Don't tell the advertisers that though, lest they figure out Google is screwing them, worse than it's screwing us..

.

 

[ZedRM]

Same. But I have heard that Google owns it in a roundabout way. I don't know.

That is incorrect.

 

[Danny101]

That is incorrect.

I hope you're right