5 ms·
> By what right does google set the search engine to begin with? They use their browser's popularity for a competitive advantage and that's legal. I'd say it's
by LeonM 7y ago
> By what right does google set the search engine to begin with? They use their browser's popularity for a competitive advantage and that's legal.
I'd say it's customer expectation. The slogan in the Chrome website is: Now more simple, secure, and faster than ever - with help from Google built‑in [0]
So, if I install Chrome I expect Google search to be built-in, and I am okay with that because it was clearly stated on the product page.
Now, when I install Office, which is not a browser to begin with, I don't expect it to change my default search provider.
[0] https://www.google.com/chrome/ https://www.google.com/chrome/
- wdobbels 7y agoExactly. The browser provides a URL bar that is coupled to a search engine. It makes sense for the browser to provide you with a default option for that search engine. A web browser is something that needs to be on every computer; so it makes sense that the OS installs a default web browser. What doesn't make sense is that some software (office) tampers with your preferences for a (mostly) unrelated piece of software (chrome). That is not office's responsibility.
- lonelappde 7y agoDo you know how many years and millions of dollars the US government spent prosecuting Microsoft for their belief that " web browser is something that needs to be on every computer"?
- Karunamon 7y agoInaccurate. Microsoft was not prosecuted for merely including IE, they were prosecuted for forcing OEMs to not include anything else (Netscape).
- jchw 7y agoThat’s, to my knowledge, a pretty big misrepresentation of the case, that from my understanding has quite a few facets. > Microsoft would terminate Compaq's licence if it removed IE and substituted Netscape, or even if it put the Netscape icon alongside the Explorer one.
- wizzwizz4 7y agoThat sounds like the G-suite on Android.
- lonelappde 7y agoWhy is a browser a search engine but an office suite isn't?
- cmcd 7y agoWhat do you mean? There is no reason an office suite should be changing configuration for your browser without explicitly asking.
- C1sc0cat 7y agoI don't I expect a browser to be a browser and that's the exact argument Microsoft lost about bundling IE with windows
- Traster 7y agoOkay, and how do we compare that to the legal trouble microsoft had with setting IE as the default browser. As a customer of course I expect IE to be built in to windows. Yet that wasn't ok.