Ian Jackson wrote: > When we choose default search we are sending a very strong message to > our users that this search is in our opinion good and trustworthy. > > Some of us may feel that our users would like Google to be the default > but of course that means that we are exposing our users' searches to > Google (who are known to remember them and use them in ways some > people disagree with), with only a small logo as indication that this > is happening. Personally I'm not a fan of Google's suck-all-the-data > approach. > > Of the list in Loic's message, only one of the searches proposed is a > sufficiently general purpose search from an organisation established > to promote the public good - Wikipedia.
I don't know of a _good_ search engine that either doesn't have associated controversy or isn't commercially motivated. Weighing up the scope of results, Google is my preferred all-purpose search simply because it pretty much knows everything. Wikipedia on the other hand, might have an article on my desired subject, but it's more likely not to return anything. I wouldn't consider it a viable alternative to an established search engine. > There is one obvious entry missing: a BBC News search. There's > probably only room for one news search and the BBC would make sense as > probably the most neutral and reliable. As a regular BBC news visitor, I second that. > Finally, there is another question I would like to bring up: > filthy lucre. > > Organisations like Google have been known to pay large sums of money > to have their entry be the default. As I understand it the Mozilla > foundation is largely funded from search engine kickbacks (!) > > We need to make an explicit decision whether we want to try to secure > such a source of revenue, where the revenue should go, how far we are > prepared to go in our negotiations with such a partner, and so forth. > Ultimately this would be a decision for the CC or the TB. Personally I would hardly think that Ubuntu or Canonical would need to seek extra funding in this way. I understand and agree with Mozilla's arrangement, but I would expect more funding options to be explored by Ubuntu before channeling users to a search engine for referral money. I guess I'm hard to please. I'd vote for Google as a default, but I'd not be too impressed with money being exchanged for having it so. Out of interest, where would this be discussed further, LaunchPad? Regards, Tom -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
