Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
> I understand that you're annoyed because you feel an issue that's
> important to you has been ignored for a long time, but venting your
> feelings to the list is never productive.  You are more likely to get
> useful responses if you focus on constructive areas of debate, and
> ignore irrelevant sub-threads wherever possible.  Doing so will make
> your thread look more attractive to potential posters.
>
>   - Andrew
>

This is why I asked very politely and concisely, both one year ago, and 
three days ago. I even posted a second message to clarify that I was not 
referring to the multi-search. So if you know something about the google 
custom search you can reply to the first message and I will not injury 
anyone.

Being direct and being polite may live together.

I know that it is easier to not reply when it can likely cause a mess. 
But not replying is going to cause a mess anyways because it is evident 
from the sole startup page that the user is not informed.

Vincenzo

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Andrew Sayers
Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
> The fact that there is nobody willing to reply (I posted a similar 
> message one year ago, so this is certainly not a matter of time) can 
> mean only two things:
> 
> 1) on this list, nobody knows the answer. I think this is likely. Then, 
> the custom search should be removed from firefox. Nobody knows why it is 
> there.
> 
> 2) someone knows, but they are ashamed to tell the truth. This is likely 
> too. If you just want to adopt a marketing strategy, damnit, just admit 
> it. The majority of users including myself will continue to use ubuntu. 
> But why silence? This is really worrying.

Hi Vincenzo,

With all due respect, I think you're missing a more likely possibility:

Developers look at the level of bitterness in this thread, and at the 
ratio of people that have been attacked vs. people that have been 
treated respectfully, do a quick cost:benefit analysis of posting, and 
decide that they're better off keeping quiet.

I understand that you're annoyed because you feel an issue that's 
important to you has been ignored for a long time, but venting your 
feelings to the list is never productive.  You are more likely to get 
useful responses if you focus on constructive areas of debate, and 
ignore irrelevant sub-threads wherever possible.  Doing so will make 
your thread look more attractive to potential posters.

- Andrew

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia

> Are you not part of this community?
>

No, I am not a developer. I am part of the broader community of ubuntu 
users (I do lots of bug reporting). If I write to ubuntu-devel-discuss 
maybe there is some developer on it, and maybe they can even communicate 
between each other. But let us stop questioning this since

I am not as stupid as I may look like, therefore I also contacted the 
list you suggest, as I _already_ replied to Sebastien. That was only two 
days ago, so you can still scream that this problem is all my fault and 
that there is nothing bad, that I have to be patient and wait for a reply.

I am NOT going to second this: lots of important people, including Mark 
Shuttleworth, read this list, and if nobody has been concerned with 
replying about that issue for more than one year, then ubuntu is not 
respecting the principles that lead _me_ to use and campaign for free 
software.

Time may be still an excuse, so I am going to wait for a week more for 
an ubuntu-mozilla-team reply. If the issue is not important they may 
reply in six months or so, but for me it has become an urgent matter.

It already was urgent one year ago, but I decided I could live with 
that. When I saw the custom page being pushed also in the firefox search 
box, which has the google symbol on it, and no ubuntu specific 
decoration, I realised I had not been doing my duties as a free software 
advocate and user, and decided that this time I will either get a 
satisfactory reply or quit.

I publicly committed to the free software philosophy many times, also 
during my career, so for me it is vital to know if what I am working for 
is what I expect.

> I do think nobody here knows the answer. It's something specific to
> one package (albeit an important one). It's probably best to get in
> touch with the Mozilla team directly:
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam#Communication
>
> Remco

Let us not joke about this. Surely much more people than that team knows 
about this, I do NOT believe that it's a decision of their own, that was 
not discussed in a broader council. That is why I expected somebody on 
THIS list to know about that.

The fact that I am alone in asking and, also, no developer is worried 
about that page, is really strange.

I can't believe, for example, that ex-debian-developers may pass this 
under silence. That's another reason why I thought this list would have 
been ok. Probably philosophy does not drive free software anymore.

Eventually, I will grow up and understand that free software is only 
about licenses, and that money drives all of us. That's a problem of my own.

Vincenzo



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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Remco
On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 1:05 PM, Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
> That's the most "universal" place that I know where users and developers
> may meet. Certainly ubuntu-devel is not the right place (maybe it's even
> moderated?). How can you be sure ubuntu-mozilla developers and maybe
> M.S. are not reading this list? Is it possible that nobody here consider
> the issue important enough to eventually forward it to somebody who can
> know the answer? Are you a community or what?

Are you not part of this community?

I do think nobody here knows the answer. It's something specific to
one package (albeit an important one). It's probably best to get in
touch with the Mozilla team directly:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam#Communication

Remco

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
Il 27/07/2009 12:26, Sebastien Bacher ha scritto:
> (could you stop private copying me and reply on the list?)
>
> On lun., 2009-07-27 at 12:16 +0200, Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
>> Sebastian: did you notice another message that has been there for one
>> year?
>
> How does that change the fact that the people you want to reach might
> not be reading the list you are posting to now?
>
> Sebastien Bacher
>
>

That's the most "universal" place that I know where users and developers 
may meet. Certainly ubuntu-devel is not the right place (maybe it's even 
moderated?). How can you be sure ubuntu-mozilla developers and maybe 
M.S. are not reading this list? Is it possible that nobody here consider 
the issue important enough to eventually forward it to somebody who can 
know the answer? Are you a community or what?

Sebastian: if you are not involved you don't need to reply at all, this 
message is not for you. If nobody in this list knows either an answer or 
cares to forward the issue, maybe the problem is hidden/buried enough to 
justify my concerns.

V.

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Sebastien Bacher
(could you stop private copying me and reply on the list?)

On lun., 2009-07-27 at 12:16 +0200, Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
> Sebastian: did you notice another message that has been there for one 
> year? 

How does that change the fact that the people you want to reach might
not be reading the list you are posting to now?

Sebastien Bacher


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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
Il 27/07/2009 10:46, Sebastien Bacher ha scritto:
> On sam., 2009-07-25 at 16:45 +0200, Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
>> 1) on this list, nobody knows the answer. I think this is likely.
>> Then,
>> the custom search should be removed from firefox. Nobody knows why it
>> is
>> there.
>
> You seem to jump to a weird conclusion, because busy maintainers don't
> read your emails on a noisy discuss list you advice to drop changes?
> Wouldn't it make sense to rather try contacting the maintainer or the
> ubuntu mozilla team about the issue or to open a bug on launchpad so you
> can get a reply from the people doing the changes?
>
> Sebastien Bacher
>
>

Sebastian: did you notice another message that has been there for one 
year? I already told in previous messages that time is not an excuse for 
that reason, but let me link it:


http://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com/msg04111.html

An important topic may also deserve a timely clarification, even if that 
other message had not been there for more than one year. We all are 
busy. Me too. I do real work, but sometimes I prioritize important 
things. Maybe this issue is just not important for ubuntu, we shall see.

For me it is urgent: I need to know if it's worth keeping contributing 
to ubuntu or not, because if principles did not come before technical 
merits for me, 12 years ago, when gnome and kde did not exist, I would 
have stayed with windows, or perhaps I'd have gotten a mac.

I contacted the ubuntu mozilla team, as you suggest, and did not get any 
reply. A bug does not make sense here because mine is a question, not a 
bug report.

Do you know anything about the search page? If so, tell us, if not, you 
are confirming my theory, not the opposite.

Vincenzo

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
Il 27/07/2009 10:52, Alan Pope ha scritto:
>
> ..or read his blog post about it:)
>
> http://www.asoftsite.org/s9y/archives/162-What-is-this-Multisearch-thing-in-my-Firefox-about.html
>
> (which I can see Vincenzo already has, and has indeed commented on it
> [assuming that's Vincenzo]).


When someone can start reading my e-mail... I already explained very 
well that the object of the question is not the multi-search but the 
default search page which *has been there since hardy* and I also am 
perceiving this big confusion between multisearch, which is a testing 
feature, and the default page, which has been there since hardy, as a 
way to take time and not reply.

Do you know anything about the custom search? If so, tell us, if not, 
you are confirming my theory, not the opposite.

Vincenzo

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Alan Pope
2009/7/27 Sebastien Bacher :
> Wouldn't it make sense to rather try contacting the maintainer or the
> ubuntu mozilla team about the issue or to open a bug on launchpad so you
> can get a reply from the people doing the changes?
>

..or read his blog post about it :)

http://www.asoftsite.org/s9y/archives/162-What-is-this-Multisearch-thing-in-my-Firefox-about.html

(which I can see Vincenzo already has, and has indeed commented on it
[assuming that's Vincenzo]).

Cheers,
Al.

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-27 Thread Sebastien Bacher
On sam., 2009-07-25 at 16:45 +0200, Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
> 1) on this list, nobody knows the answer. I think this is likely.
> Then, 
> the custom search should be removed from firefox. Nobody knows why it
> is 
> there. 

You seem to jump to a weird conclusion, because busy maintainers don't
read your emails on a noisy discuss list you advice to drop changes?
Wouldn't it make sense to rather try contacting the maintainer or the
ubuntu mozilla team about the issue or to open a bug on launchpad so you
can get a reply from the people doing the changes?

Sebastien Bacher


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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia

> [1]:
> http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/mozilla-extends-lucrative-deal-with-google-for-3-years/

Oli, thanks for this link. So next time I'll see some crappy microsoft 
search engine by default in internet explorer I will not laugh at their 
users anymore.

V.

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
Il 26/07/2009 03:34, Jan Claeys ha scritto:
>> The custom search is quite annoying and intrusive.  I've resorted to
>> >  using the binary download.
>
> Eh, you know that you can add/remove whatever search engine you want,
> don't you?
>

Jan, did you read my e-mails? It is clear to everybody that 1) we can 
customize firefox and 2) this is an effect of it being open source.

My concerns are of a completely different nature. It seems to me that 
they are pushing a custom search making it look like a standard search 
page (even if it has an ubuntu logo). My mother (if I had not changed 
the start page for her) would certainly have been tricked into the 
thing. And wonder why on linux there are no maps or conversions. And I 
think that this is not acceptable in a free software distribution. At 
least, these are not the principles that led me to push ubuntu among 
people of all sort, and to help with bug reporting in my free time.

V.

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread Oli Warner
Yes, the search is poorly done. It looks bad. It's a simple tool on Google
available to anybody to make a branded search engine and make money from it.

What is trying to be done though, isn't unprecedented. The simplest and most
relevant example to pull off the top of my head is Mozilla having a
long-running deal with Google[1] whereby they receive $millions for people
using Firefox's search area to use Google.

If I could search Google without it looking like a sty (much like the
Firefox-Google deal permits), I'd be more than happy for Canonical to make a
few quid from me using Ubuntu. If anything this is what Canonical
*should*be doing to make their cash. Transparently implemented,
non-binding service
agreements that the user can opt out of without any trouble.

Canonical should talk directly to Google and come up with some
arrangement... But Mozilla may kick up a fuss as could lose out.


[1]:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/mozilla-extends-lucrative-deal-with-google-for-3-years/
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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread Jan Claeys
Op zaterdag 25-07-2009 om 11:36 uur [tijdzone -0400], schreef dan:
> The custom search is quite annoying and intrusive.  I've resorted to
> using the binary download.

Eh, you know that you can add/remove whatever search engine you want,
don't you?


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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
Il 25/07/2009 17:36, dan ha scritto:
> The custom search is quite annoying and intrusive.  I've resorted to
> using the binary download.

Me too, but my concern is: is it worth to continue pushing ubuntu among 
my friends and colleagues, if they pass over such an issue without 
commenting? I do not want to look like I appreciate this situation which 
does not recall free software at all.

V.

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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread dan
The custom search is quite annoying and intrusive.  I've resorted to
using the binary download.

dan
---
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Open Standards!



On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 10:45 AM, Vincenzo Ciancia wrote:
> The fact that there is nobody willing to reply (I posted a similar
> message one year ago, so this is certainly not a matter of time) can
> mean only two things:
>
> 1) on this list, nobody knows the answer. I think this is likely. Then,
> the custom search should be removed from firefox. Nobody knows why it is
> there.
>
> 2) someone knows, but they are ashamed to tell the truth. This is likely
> too. If you just want to adopt a marketing strategy, damnit, just admit
> it. The majority of users including myself will continue to use ubuntu.
> But why silence? This is really worrying.
>
> Vincenzo
>
>
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Re: The google custom search - perhaps it went there by itself?

2009-07-25 Thread Vincenzo Ciancia
The fact that there is nobody willing to reply (I posted a similar 
message one year ago, so this is certainly not a matter of time) can 
mean only two things:

1) on this list, nobody knows the answer. I think this is likely. Then, 
the custom search should be removed from firefox. Nobody knows why it is 
there.

2) someone knows, but they are ashamed to tell the truth. This is likely 
too. If you just want to adopt a marketing strategy, damnit, just admit 
it. The majority of users including myself will continue to use ubuntu. 
But why silence? This is really worrying.

Vincenzo


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