6 ms·

Why on earth does this demand to be installed as an extension in Chrome just to do a search? What is the driving factor behind that decision if they don't track

Why on earth does this demand to be installed as an extension in Chrome just to do a search? What is the driving factor behind that decision if they don't track your data?

mike_d 5y ago
A browser extension (these were called "toolbars" or "BHOs" in Web 1.0) is the only way to continue capturing searches and direct them to your engine. You.com will quickly figure out that endpoint protection software ("Antivirus") doesn't care how amazing you are or how you are different from the thousand other privacy search engines and labels all of these as "Potentially Unwanted Programs" and nukes them from orbit.
swethmandava 5y ago
https://www.notion.so/youdotcom/Setting-You-com-as-your-default-manually-0c6fb51849274747a28cf96d52239c82 https://www.notion.so/youdotcom/Setting-You-com-as-your-defa... Alternatives to installing an extension!
- bpeebles 5y ago
  Right but they're still requiring you to set it as the default search engine or you can't use it on Chrome outside of an Incognito window. That's such bad behavior (and I know it's a hard market to break into) I can't really see ever trying this out more than once or twice just to see what it looks like.
  - throwawaygh 5y ago
    More importantly, it goes directly to the amount of respect they have for the consumer. Stick with DDG.
Arech 5y ago
Hm, I've been using it since private beta and on Firefox it just works.
CobrastanJorji 5y ago
Well, you see, they bill themselves as so much more convenient than Google, so naturally to search, you need to start by getting to a computer (and not a phone) (and in the U.S.) and install a browser extension. But asides from that, it's very convenient, like Bing (because it uses Bing to serve the actual results), except you don't get the Microsoft Rewards. But anyway, the point is why wouldn't you trust the founder of Salesforce with being super duper into not capitalizing on customer data.
- richardsocher 5y ago
  We'll open source the 33Kb extension soon so you can see that all it does is changing one setting. I understand the distrust, I hate sketchy extensions also. Sadly, it's the only way to become your default as a new search engine :)
  - CobrastanJorji 5y ago
    Sure, sure, and what's the reason why I am required to make you.com my default search engine before I'm permitted to even try it? Also, we both know that it's absolutely NOT the only way. A user can change their default search engine through their settings. It's more steps, but it's certainly allowed. In case your company hasn't noticed yet, click "Settings" in Chrome, then "Manage Search Engines," then click "Add". Once you've added you.com, click "make default".
    - richardsocher 5y ago
      Yes, and you can do that and then make as many searches as you want without requiring the extension. We give the steps and explanation in our FAQ First question and answer: https://youdotcom.notion.site/FAQ-8c871d6c99d84e02955fda772a1da8d4 https://youdotcom.notion.site/FAQ-8c871d6c99d84e02955fda772a...
  - jjulius 5y ago
    >Sadly, it's the only way to become your default as a new search engine :) Well that's just not true at all. We're expected to trust this search engine with our privacy while you're telling a crowd of people a blatant lie that almost feels like gaslighting? A crowd of people who you know knows enough to spot that lie a mile away, no less? Yeah, no. I'm out on You (no pun intended, but it definitely fits). Hard pass.
richardsocher 5y ago
Yea... Driving factor: convenience of your search engine. You actually can try it out in incognito mode and any other browser. But we found that without the convenience of a navbar search, most people won't give it a proper try either way. I hope we can drop this requirement even in Chrome when we become one of the default options. If you set your search engine default to http://you.com http://you.com manually in Chrome with "https://you.com/search?q=%s https://you.com/search?q=%s" you will not need the extension... but for most people convenience wins and well... It's tough to go up against a monopoly that controls the browser too? You can find more details for every browser setup here: https://youdotcom.notion.site/Make-You-com-your-default-search-f87c10bbfe7e4e34ae89aeba7e77f474 https://youdotcom.notion.site/Make-You-com-your-default-sear...
richardsocher 5y ago
Hey all. We heard you today. The Chrome extension requirement is gone and we are fully open in all browsers now. Thanks for your feedback. Keep it coming :)
- johnthescott 5y ago
  good. my quick and superficial observation is that the landing page is very cluttered. the search is buried. however, i do like the idea of a search engine for devs. as a dev, i should be able to create a custom search engine for, say, knitting for my wife and her friends, obviously skinnable. i would spend time investigating such an engine.
richardsocher 5y ago
The extension has no read access (Chrome tells you its permissions). It really doesn't track. We'll open source it to show. We hoped it would be more convenient but other extensions are so sketchy that generally people hate all of them. We want to be open and listened to the community and dropped the requirement of the extension entirely. Let me know what you think of the search experience :)

Why on earth does this demand to be installed as an extension in Chrome just to do a search? What is the driving factor behind that decision if they don't track your data?

mike_d 5y ago

A browser extension (these were called "toolbars" or "BHOs" in Web 1.0) is the only way to continue capturing searches and direct them to your engine. You.com will quickly figure out that endpoint protection software ("Antivirus") doesn't care how amazing you are or how you are different from the thousand other privacy search engines and labels all of these as "Potentially Unwanted Programs" and nukes them from orbit.

swethmandava 5y ago

https://www.notion.so/youdotcom/Setting-You-com-as-your-default-manually-0c6fb51849274747a28cf96d52239c82 https://www.notion.so/youdotcom/Setting-You-com-as-your-defa... Alternatives to installing an extension!

bpeebles 5y ago
Right but they're still requiring you to set it as the default search engine or you can't use it on Chrome outside of an Incognito window. That's such bad behavior (and I know it's a hard market to break into) I can't really see ever trying this out more than once or twice just to see what it looks like.
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  More importantly, it goes directly to the amount of respect they have for the consumer. Stick with DDG.

Arech 5y ago

Hm, I've been using it since private beta and on Firefox it just works.

CobrastanJorji 5y ago

Well, you see, they bill themselves as so much more convenient than Google, so naturally to search, you need to start by getting to a computer (and not a phone) (and in the U.S.) and install a browser extension. But asides from that, it's very convenient, like Bing (because it uses Bing to serve the actual results), except you don't get the Microsoft Rewards. But anyway, the point is why wouldn't you trust the founder of Salesforce with being super duper into not capitalizing on customer data.

richardsocher 5y ago
We'll open source the 33Kb extension soon so you can see that all it does is changing one setting. I understand the distrust, I hate sketchy extensions also. Sadly, it's the only way to become your default as a new search engine :)
- CobrastanJorji 5y ago
  Sure, sure, and what's the reason why I am required to make you.com my default search engine before I'm permitted to even try it? Also, we both know that it's absolutely NOT the only way. A user can change their default search engine through their settings. It's more steps, but it's certainly allowed. In case your company hasn't noticed yet, click "Settings" in Chrome, then "Manage Search Engines," then click "Add". Once you've added you.com, click "make default".
  - richardsocher 5y ago
    Yes, and you can do that and then make as many searches as you want without requiring the extension. We give the steps and explanation in our FAQ First question and answer: https://youdotcom.notion.site/FAQ-8c871d6c99d84e02955fda772a1da8d4 https://youdotcom.notion.site/FAQ-8c871d6c99d84e02955fda772a...
- jjulius 5y ago
  >Sadly, it's the only way to become your default as a new search engine :) Well that's just not true at all. We're expected to trust this search engine with our privacy while you're telling a crowd of people a blatant lie that almost feels like gaslighting? A crowd of people who you know knows enough to spot that lie a mile away, no less? Yeah, no. I'm out on You (no pun intended, but it definitely fits). Hard pass.

richardsocher 5y ago

Yea... Driving factor: convenience of your search engine. You actually can try it out in incognito mode and any other browser. But we found that without the convenience of a navbar search, most people won't give it a proper try either way. I hope we can drop this requirement even in Chrome when we become one of the default options. If you set your search engine default to http://you.com http://you.com manually in Chrome with "https://you.com/search?q=%s https://you.com/search?q=%s" you will not need the extension... but for most people convenience wins and well... It's tough to go up against a monopoly that controls the browser too? You can find more details for every browser setup here: https://youdotcom.notion.site/Make-You-com-your-default-search-f87c10bbfe7e4e34ae89aeba7e77f474 https://youdotcom.notion.site/Make-You-com-your-default-sear...

richardsocher 5y ago

Hey all. We heard you today. The Chrome extension requirement is gone and we are fully open in all browsers now. Thanks for your feedback. Keep it coming :)

johnthescott 5y ago
good. my quick and superficial observation is that the landing page is very cluttered. the search is buried. however, i do like the idea of a search engine for devs. as a dev, i should be able to create a custom search engine for, say, knitting for my wife and her friends, obviously skinnable. i would spend time investigating such an engine.

richardsocher 5y ago

The extension has no read access (Chrome tells you its permissions). It really doesn't track. We'll open source it to show. We hoped it would be more convenient but other extensions are so sketchy that generally people hate all of them. We want to be open and listened to the community and dropped the requirement of the extension entirely. Let me know what you think of the search experience :)