4 ms·

I'm doubtful of this taking off. People stick with the default apps and settings. The average person just really doesn't care that much about this kind of thing

I'm doubtful of this taking off. People stick with the default apps and settings. The average person just really doesn't care that much about this kind of thing. Maybe enterprise or businesses will like it - so they can avoid their employees visit whitelisted sites that mistakenly have malicious code in the ads. Eg. Flash

rockdoe 11y ago
I'm doubtful of this taking off. People stick with the default apps and settings. Firefox overcame that disadvantage about 10 years ago. You could say Chrome did too (though nowadays Chrome is bundled so much it no longer applies).
- anotherhacker 11y ago
  Overcame...and then lost it. "Firefox's total user share -- an amalgamation of desktop and mobile -- was 9.5%" Firefox gained marketshare 10 years ago b/c most internet users were still early adopters. There people were more tech savvy and into open source. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2893514/an-incredibly-shrinking-firefox-faces-endangered-species-status.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2893514/an-incredibly-s...
  - rockdoe 11y ago
    Firefox gained marketshare 10 years ago b/c most internet users were still early adopters. There people were more tech savvy and into open source. That's a really interesting point. Makes it clear how high the bar is for new entrants.
roneesh 11y ago
I'm not so sure that the average person won't care. They are increasingly aware of how much they pay for data on their phone plans, and how crossing limits decreases their speeds. After a big bill or two, people start looking for options.
- anotherhacker 11y ago
  "Why 3.5 times more Apple users choose Apple Maps over Google Maps" The power of default settings is huge. Perhaps you're thinking of yourself or your peers.90% of the rest of the population just doesn't care about these issues. Source: http://fortune.com/2015/06/16/apple-google-maps-ios/ http://fortune.com/2015/06/16/apple-google-maps-ios/
  - roneesh 11y ago
    I tried to cover my tracks here and say "increasingly" aware. For instance I saw an ad the other day that offered unlimited internet on your phone for $40 a month, but in slightly smaller text (not fine print, think H1 vs H2 relation) it said that after 1.5Gb speeds reduced to 128k. Disclosures like that I think will make people more aware of their data usage over time. However my supposition is predicated on the continued restriction of data and speed by carriers. If any new business model comes along that upends that, then I suppose Americans won't become data usage aware.
Animats 11y ago
Mozilla uses that fact to exploit its users. They keep pushing a "clean your browser" button, which reverts the search engine to Yahoo, which pays them for this.
- magicalist 11y ago
  To be fair, one of the top actions adware/malware takes is changing the search engine to some monetized zombie search engine, so resetting it to the default makes sense.
  - Animats 11y ago
    Yes, except that Yahoo is a monetized zombie search engine. They resell Bing, with their own ads.

rockdoe 11y ago

I'm doubtful of this taking off. People stick with the default apps and settings. Firefox overcame that disadvantage about 10 years ago. You could say Chrome did too (though nowadays Chrome is bundled so much it no longer applies).

anotherhacker 11y ago
Overcame...and then lost it. "Firefox's total user share -- an amalgamation of desktop and mobile -- was 9.5%" Firefox gained marketshare 10 years ago b/c most internet users were still early adopters. There people were more tech savvy and into open source. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2893514/an-incredibly-shrinking-firefox-faces-endangered-species-status.html http://www.computerworld.com/article/2893514/an-incredibly-s...
- rockdoe 11y ago
  Firefox gained marketshare 10 years ago b/c most internet users were still early adopters. There people were more tech savvy and into open source. That's a really interesting point. Makes it clear how high the bar is for new entrants.

roneesh 11y ago

I'm not so sure that the average person won't care. They are increasingly aware of how much they pay for data on their phone plans, and how crossing limits decreases their speeds. After a big bill or two, people start looking for options.

anotherhacker 11y ago
"Why 3.5 times more Apple users choose Apple Maps over Google Maps" The power of default settings is huge. Perhaps you're thinking of yourself or your peers.90% of the rest of the population just doesn't care about these issues. Source: http://fortune.com/2015/06/16/apple-google-maps-ios/ http://fortune.com/2015/06/16/apple-google-maps-ios/
- roneesh 11y ago
  I tried to cover my tracks here and say "increasingly" aware. For instance I saw an ad the other day that offered unlimited internet on your phone for $40 a month, but in slightly smaller text (not fine print, think H1 vs H2 relation) it said that after 1.5Gb speeds reduced to 128k. Disclosures like that I think will make people more aware of their data usage over time. However my supposition is predicated on the continued restriction of data and speed by carriers. If any new business model comes along that upends that, then I suppose Americans won't become data usage aware.

Animats 11y ago

Mozilla uses that fact to exploit its users. They keep pushing a "clean your browser" button, which reverts the search engine to Yahoo, which pays them for this.

magicalist 11y ago
To be fair, one of the top actions adware/malware takes is changing the search engine to some monetized zombie search engine, so resetting it to the default makes sense.
- Animats 11y ago
  Yes, except that Yahoo is a monetized zombie search engine. They resell Bing, with their own ads.