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Firefox drops Google as default search engine, signs five-year deal with Yahoo


Arizin

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Today, Yahoo and Mozilla announced a five-year partnership that would make Yahoo the default US search engine for Mozilla's Firefox browser on mobile and desktop. In December, Yahoo will roll out an enhanced new search function to Firefox users, and will also support Do Not Track functions in Firefox as a result of the partnership. The agreement also sets the stage for future product integrations, but so far the companies are keeping quiet on what those might be. Firefox has lost market share in recent years but is still used by roughly 17 percent of webgoers. According to Mozilla CEO Chris Beard, Firefox users search the web more than 100 billion times each year, suggesting a major windfall for Yahoo as a result of the deal.

By comparison, only 10 percent of web searches are made through Yahoo, which is powered by Microsoft Bing. But Google and Bing have both made major gains in recent years. Nonetheless, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said search traffic is still a major priority for the network, and one they expect to explore through the new partnership. "At Yahoo, we believe deeply in search – it’s an area of investment, opportunity and growth for us," said Mayer. "I can’t wait to see what innovations we build together."

Google has been Firefox's default browser for ten years, so the new partnership represents a significant break. In a subsequent blog post, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard described the decision as a strategic one. "Our agreement came up for renewal this year, and we took this as an opportunity to review our competitive strategy," Beard wrote. "We believe it will empower more people, in more places with more choice and opportunity to innovate and ultimately put even more people in control over their lives online." Mozilla is also setting Yandex as the default search engine in Russia, and the move opens up the company to work with more local partners. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia will continue as alternative search options in the US.

This partnership with Firefox will surely give Yahoo — and Microsoft — a stronger presence in the search market, however. While Firefox usage has declined over the last few years, it still accounts for at least 15% of the U.S. browser market. Yahoo currently owns about 10% of the U.S. search engine market. Switching the default back to Google only takes a few seconds, but most users will likely stick with the default.

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Wow! Is Yahoo! Search still alive?

I think they have backed a loser. Who really wants to search with Yahoo! ?
And Yahoo! Messenger has all but been killed off by Skype.

The last throw of the dice for Yahoo!, in my opinion.

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well this will be changed to duck duck go or some other one asap upon instal

They should bundle Disconnect Search. You can get the best Google results without the tracking.

I don't know why Yahoo! still exists, but in reality their search is 100% Bing inside, just skinned, so in reality you are just using Microsoft and letting them hoover up all your searches.

Barring the addon I mentioned you'd think they would have at least done DuckDuckGo or Startpage. Even Apple has added the former to iOS.

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Another Mozilla Firefox change... another cue for a gazillion posts/add-ons to undo the unpopular change.

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Wow! Is Yahoo! Search still alive?

I think they have backed a loser. Who really wants to search with Yahoo! ?

And Yahoo! Messenger has all but been killed off by Skype.

The last throw of the dice for Yahoo!, in my opinion.

Yahoo.inc have pee'd me off big time.

Today I found out they are getting rid of pool on December 31st 2014.

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Another Mozilla Firefox change... another cue for a gazillion posts/add-ons to undo the unpopular change.

But this requires no add-on at all, just a search change.

But the Chrome Add-on I use lets me get Google without Google knowing it is me, which is great, and I like that the results look just like Google instead of Startpage.

But no add-on needed. I'd like to see an add-on that lets us use the stock New Tab Page but ensures no sponsored crap or tracking is done, because I don't want to blank it or replace it.

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I personally thought they should have replaced it with Bing or something else like DDG or StartPage instead, if replacement was required at all. I mean, Google was probably still happy to pay them to use it's search engine as a default one.

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