4 ms·

If you search for Firefox, Google says "did you mean Chrome?" Edited to add: This has actually happened to me when setting up a new Windows PC for someone.

julienfr112 7y ago
That's fuel for a millions dollars lawsuit by the European Commission.
- dalbasal 7y ago
  Billions, if at all. The EC recently ruled against Google in a "slam dunk" case about anti-competitive contracts with "search partners." €1.5bn & it barely got noticed.
inflatableDodo 7y ago
Just tried searching for 'firefox' as a quick test. I do get a page of Firefox results, but I also get a box titled 'People also ask' after the first four results, with the very first item being; 'Is Mozilla Firefox Safe to Download?' I also get a box at the bottom of the page titled 'Web Browsers,' with the first item in that box being Chrome. And Firefox is just not in that box at all. Not a popular enough web browser to include in the box marked web browsers when searched for by name, it would seem. On the other hand, UC Browser makes the list after Chrome, Opera and Safari, which I hadn't even heard of until today, but is apparently by Alibaba.
- vamc19 7y ago
  > And Firefox is just not in that box at all. If you search for Chrome, Chrome will not show up in that box either. And the first browser in that box is, guess what, Firefox. You just searched for it, why include it in the box? UC Browser is pretty popular in Asia. Statcounter reports 3% market share worldwide, right between Samsung Internet and IE.
  - inflatableDodo 7y ago
    >If you search for Chrome, Chrome will not show up in that box either. And the first browser in that box is, guess what, Firefox. You just searched for it, why include it in the box? Oh, good catch, you are right. Is just a bad title for the box and does not appear to be in any way nefarious. 'Other Web Browsers' would be a lot less confusing. Am still cocking an eyebrow at 'Is Mozilla Firefox Safe to Download?' though.
    - ryacko 7y ago
      It isn't safe to download for the person asking that question.
    - eslachance 7y ago
      I'm not sure if anything changed in a day, but I'm not getting that result at all (in fact, I'm not getting a "did you mean Chrome" either). The latter isn't explainable by me, but for the former... well, remember the search results are tailored to you (that's another pandora's box about echo chambers in itself) so perhaps you've been searching for more security-oriented things and that affects your results. In my case, the first page was mostly official Firefox links, wikipedia, and the very last result of the first page was "Google Just Gave 2 Billion Chrome Users A Reason To Switch To Firefox" so it doesn't seem like there's anything awry going on here.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
Wowfunhappy 7y ago
I can't reproduce but I absolutely believe this has happened to you, given how much search results vary by person. I would appreciate a screenshot if you can grab one, it would be funny to whip out in certain situations. (Doctoring a photo would be dishonest.)
danielnesbitt 7y ago
That does not happen because you searched for Firefox. A dismissible popup suggesting you 'Switch to Chrome' appears if using IE to search with Google regardless of your search term. It seems Microsoft is bit more egregious in Bing. If you search for Chrome or Firefox you get "Promoted by Microsoft - Microsoft Edge is the recommended browser for Windows 10 and it’s already installed on your PC."
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  ...and if you change your default browser to anything else, you'll get endless "Try Edge!" messages in your notifications and even on your lock screen.
  - falcolas 7y ago
    Microsoft's bad behavior does not excuse Google's bad behavior.

julienfr112 7y ago

That's fuel for a millions dollars lawsuit by the European Commission.

dalbasal 7y ago
Billions, if at all. The EC recently ruled against Google in a "slam dunk" case about anti-competitive contracts with "search partners." €1.5bn & it barely got noticed.

inflatableDodo 7y ago

Just tried searching for 'firefox' as a quick test. I do get a page of Firefox results, but I also get a box titled 'People also ask' after the first four results, with the very first item being; 'Is Mozilla Firefox Safe to Download?' I also get a box at the bottom of the page titled 'Web Browsers,' with the first item in that box being Chrome. And Firefox is just not in that box at all. Not a popular enough web browser to include in the box marked web browsers when searched for by name, it would seem. On the other hand, UC Browser makes the list after Chrome, Opera and Safari, which I hadn't even heard of until today, but is apparently by Alibaba.

vamc19 7y ago
> And Firefox is just not in that box at all. If you search for Chrome, Chrome will not show up in that box either. And the first browser in that box is, guess what, Firefox. You just searched for it, why include it in the box? UC Browser is pretty popular in Asia. Statcounter reports 3% market share worldwide, right between Samsung Internet and IE.
- inflatableDodo 7y ago
  >If you search for Chrome, Chrome will not show up in that box either. And the first browser in that box is, guess what, Firefox. You just searched for it, why include it in the box? Oh, good catch, you are right. Is just a bad title for the box and does not appear to be in any way nefarious. 'Other Web Browsers' would be a lot less confusing. Am still cocking an eyebrow at 'Is Mozilla Firefox Safe to Download?' though.
  - ryacko 7y ago
    It isn't safe to download for the person asking that question.
  - eslachance 7y ago
    I'm not sure if anything changed in a day, but I'm not getting that result at all (in fact, I'm not getting a "did you mean Chrome" either). The latter isn't explainable by me, but for the former... well, remember the search results are tailored to you (that's another pandora's box about echo chambers in itself) so perhaps you've been searching for more security-oriented things and that affects your results. In my case, the first page was mostly official Firefox links, wikipedia, and the very last result of the first page was "Google Just Gave 2 Billion Chrome Users A Reason To Switch To Firefox" so it doesn't seem like there's anything awry going on here.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

Wowfunhappy 7y ago

I can't reproduce but I absolutely believe this has happened to you, given how much search results vary by person. I would appreciate a screenshot if you can grab one, it would be funny to whip out in certain situations. (Doctoring a photo would be dishonest.)

danielnesbitt 7y ago

That does not happen because you searched for Firefox. A dismissible popup suggesting you 'Switch to Chrome' appears if using IE to search with Google regardless of your search term. It seems Microsoft is bit more egregious in Bing. If you search for Chrome or Firefox you get "Promoted by Microsoft - Microsoft Edge is the recommended browser for Windows 10 and it’s already installed on your PC."

SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
...and if you change your default browser to anything else, you'll get endless "Try Edge!" messages in your notifications and even on your lock screen.
- falcolas 7y ago
  Microsoft's bad behavior does not excuse Google's bad behavior.