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Ubuntu Removes the Amazon Web App
- USEARCHBYTHEWAY 7y agoArch Linux is the only Linux distribution. Why don't people get it through their heads.
- guidedlight 7y agoWhile I get my torch lit, what's going on exactly?
- gtirloni 7y ago> First introduced in Ubuntu 12.10, the Amazon web launcher gives Ubuntu users an easy, out-of-the-box shortcut to the Amazon website. [...] > Ubuntu 20.04 ‘Focal Fossa’ will not include the Amazon web launcher, and neither will the next Ubuntu 18.04 LTS point release. https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2020/01/ubuntu-removes-the-amazon-web-app https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2020/01/ubuntu-removes-the-amazo...
- mFixman 7y agoThey might have changed it in the last 8 years, but one of the worst things about this change is that the referrer requests were made in HTTP. Anyone sniffing your connection could find out what you were writing on the Ubuntu spotlight.
- Zhyl 7y agoClarification to all: "drops" in this context means "gets rid of" rather than "releases". Ubuntu is getting rid of affiliate links which it originally introduced to generate revenue, but have proved controversial and by the sounds of it unfruitful. Ubuntu has also previously included Amazon search results in its start menu search (known as 'lenses' or the 'HUD') which were also controversial, but these were removed when Ubuntu switched to shipping the Gnome desktop by default.
- machinecoffee 7y agoWhich then raises the question, how does - if at all - Ubuntu make money for Canonical?
- llarsson 7y agoBusiness support and private cloud offerings (as in: pay Canonical to come set up a private cloud for you on machines you own). Mindshare is important here, because otherwise, something like RedHat would likely be the default choice for businesses.
- freeone3000 7y agoRight, just like HP would be the default choice for desktops, Lenovo the default choice for laptops, and Cisco the default choice for networking hardware.
- blaser-waffle 7y ago> Mindshare is important here, because otherwise, something like RedHat would likely be the default choice for businesses. I mean, with regards to Linux Enterprise stuff... it is. SuSE is the boss when it comes to SAP, but otherwise everything lives on some flavor of Red Hat or derivative; CentOS is everywhere. In the Enterprise we only roll with stuff that is officially supported. Hiring freezes, layoffs, and general work ebb-and-flow means we will need to rope in help at some point, and while I may be a wiz at some CLI functions I'm not up on what each patch is doing to the environment. Having a support contract to lean on is a huge advantage. Canonical was (is?) effectively trying to do this on the .deb side of the house (as opposed to the .rpm side), though I don't know how successful they were/are. I looked at interviewing w/ Canonical, but the Glassdoor reviews painted a picture of an org that was having deep growing pains and internal struggles.
- bregma 7y agoIt doesn't. The Ubuntu desktop was a hobby project for a tech-oriented individual with deep pockets. In 2017 the Ubuntu desktop project was virtually eliminated as a loss-maker in the run up to going public. Now, Ubuntu is just enabling technology for (profitable) cloud services and (hopefully in the future profitable) IoT and ships with a slightly customized version Red Hat's Gnome Shell desktop.
- whalesalad 7y agoGood riddance
- finchisko 7y agowont be missed
- mszcz 7y agoHear, hear!
- mPReDiToR 7y agoEventually they drop the crapware foisted on us that we complained about when they put it in. Why won't they listen to us?
- Blaiz0r 7y agoBecause money
- burundi_coffee 7y agoIt'$ a my$tery, no one know$
- Snetry 7y agoIt'$ a my$tery we might never $olve
- akerl_ 7y agoHow does this action differ from “listening to us”? It looks like they’re removing the app.
- umanwizard 7y agoYears later
- aloknnikhil 7y agoThe first thing I did after install was to remove all the launcher shortcuts except for Firefox. This'll make it easier on new installs for me (and perhaps most of us).
- fctorial 7y agoI don't understand the rage. It's a shortcut that opens amazon.com in a browser. It queries location, for opening the local amazon site, but that could be avoided by disabling geoclue.
- Maakuth 7y agoThe default was to submit all Unity launcher searches to Amazon to populate the desktop search with items sold in Amazon.
- m45t3r 7y agoThis was the shortcut to Amazon website, not the search lens that already died in the transition from Unity to Gnome. https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2020/01/ubuntu-removes-the-amazon-web-app https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2020/01/ubuntu-removes-the-amazo...
- Maakuth 7y agoThanks for the correction. Probably others have also confused these two features.
- djsumdog 7y agoYeah, it was originally very Windows 10
- bayindirh 7y agoBecause it hints presence of a bigger iceberg beneath that harmless looking tip.
- jacquesm 7y agoThe whole reason people use Ubuntu and other free OS's is because they don't come with a bunch of commercial crap & telemetry and whatever other vendors foist on their captive audience. Going down that route is completely against what FOSS should stand for.
- akerl_ 7y agoSample size one, but that’s not why I use Linux and similar operating systems. I feel like this is probably a decently popular reason, but I’d be hesitant to suggest it’s the “whole reason”.
- bayindirh 7y agoI personally don't use Ubuntu if there's another choice (e.g. Debian) because of this very reason. Amazon app and whatnot in desktop editions and Landscape advertisements and other small web-connected push in server editions just drive me away from Ubuntu. If I feel too lazy to install Debian, I install Ubuntu in a VM to try something for short term then either migrate to Debian or delete the VM, that's it.
- mekster 7y ago> web-connected push in server editions What's this?
- zyx321 7y agoEverytime I log in on SSH, there's a message encouraging me to try Ubuntu Livepatch, which is an optional premium feature to install kernel updates without rebooting. Free for personal use, just gotta sign up for a Canonical account...
- bayindirh 7y agoYes, I was talking about the same thing. Also MOTD gets its updates from Ubuntu servers regularly. I just want a MOTD, not a complete status update from a server which probably marks this fetch as another statistic.
- djsumdog 7y agoHave they ever released how much money they earned off those affiliate searchers/clicks?
- correct_horse 7y agoI had assumed Amazon was paying for the Amazon "app" in Ubuntu (based on gut feel) but it looks like it might have been part of a Canonical's web-y vision for the Linux desktop future [1]. Does anyone know why the Amazon app existed in the first place? https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/05/what-happened-ubuntu-unity-web-app-integration https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/05/what-happened-ubuntu-uni...
- g051051 7y agoUbuntu was also making money via an affiliate tag for all purchases. See https://askubuntu.com/questions/565746/why-does-the-latest-build-of-ubuntu-have-an-amazon-button https://askubuntu.com/questions/565746/why-does-the-latest-b...
- bregma 7y agoWell hey, I just happened to work on that stuff back when Canonical still had its own desktop product. The idea was to make a user's experience as great as possible. The desktop design department all lived through their iPhones, and felt that most non-techie computer users wanted the same experience. The whole desktop-phone convergence thing was the prime directive, and having search be the prime experience on desktop for a fully-integrated web experience was the way there. There were many "scopes" plugged in that searched all kinds of things, and among them was one that searched Amazon. It didn't hurt that Canonical made a bit of income from affiliate referrals. At least until Amazon found out. Then, it just became another web search scope.
- vnpc1 7y agoGreat. Getting rid of that app was one of the first things I would do on a fresh Ubuntu installation.
- gdm85 7y agoI wonder whether they are making room for an Amazon competitor.
- USEARCHBYTHEWAY 7y agoI use Arch Linux. The only linux distro. Zero telemetry. Debian is almost as bad as Ubuntu.
- USEARCHBYTHEWAY 7y agoSeems like a Debian pawn downvoted the parent. Choice is good, use Debian my Ligger, or GNU/Ligger, if that's more up to your style.
- USEARCHBYTHEWAY 7y agoYeah there are Debian pawns all over here. If you can't install Arch, then, you're a moron, plainly spoken. It's easy as hell. Best distribution there is!
- Angostura 7y agoThe ambiguous "drop" in this context really annoys me.
- werber 7y agoYeah, i automatically assumed they meant released.
- andai 7y agoI think it's more like, when you drop your phone, it lands on its face, and stops being a phone.
- JohnFen 7y agoI totally forgot that "drop" could mean "release". The usage of the word here seemed entirely unambiguous to me.
- Angostura 7y agoIt was unambiguous to me too, until I started reading HN where it seemed to consistently used to mean 'released' or 'shipped'.
- throwawaymanbot 7y ago"Canonical listens".. finally
- nimbius 7y agoand nothing of value was lost. next up: remove the malware from MOTD.