Is Yahoo Employing Dirty Tricks In The Search Wars?

from the bait-and-switch dept

Fri, Jan 12th 2007 11:22am — Joseph Weisenthal

As the search engine wars have heated up, the browser's search box has become some valuable real estate. Last spring, Google threatened Microsoft with anti-trust complaints due to Microsoft's making its own search engine the default of IE7's search box. And of course, Google has sewn up deals with Firefox and Opera to be the default on those browsers. The battle over the search boxes appears to have hit a low, as there are claims that Yahoo is surreptitiously changing the default search engine to its own, in IE7, when users download an update to their Yahoo IM software. According to the people making the claim, Yahoo lets users check an "auto update" box, which then makes several changes to a user's defaults. It's not clear yet whether this was an isolated incident, or whether Yahoo has some sort of legitimate explanation, but if it has no defense, then it's a pretty bad and invasive tactic for a company of its stature to be using.

20 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Chaos, 12 Jan 2007 @ 11:14am

It's true.
Few weeks ago I downloaded the most recent YIM install and unchecked everything extra and still got ie loaded down with yahoo crap and links to games I'll never play dropped everywhere.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tyshaun, 12 Jan 2007 @ 11:23am

The good old days....
What happened to the good old days when you used to install a piece of software and all you got was that software (granted, it took like 10 floppy disks to do it!)?

Now, everything you download appears to be "bundled" with a bunch of ads masquerading as actual applications. I think it's time to start thinning out the development company herds a bit.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
charlie potatoes, 12 Jan 2007 @ 11:23am

for a while every time you updated Adobe Reader it tried to slip a Yahoo toolbar in on you. if you can believe it, some people don't bother to read all of the stuff they slap on the screen. Yahoo is big..but i don't see any ethics. they are just as chickenshit as the little ones.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
rHOnDO, 12 Jan 2007 @ 11:37am

One word ...
One word - YubNub.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
misanthropic humanist, 12 Jan 2007 @ 11:39am

meta search is better search
All the search engine companies, Google included are getting far to agressive imho.

Use this instead:

http://clusty.com/

It seems kosher enough to me. It's a couple of hundered milliseconds slower on results but it actually spiders all the other search engines and is therefore technically superior to Google or Yahoo alone.

That said, the default search bar engine is hardly something that is cast in stone. It's a simple matter for any user to set this in obvious preferences option. To say Firefox (IceWeasel please :) has a default is a little misleading too. Depending on where you download your copy from you have many choices of rpm, apt or other packages that offer no default, or a latching (the one you choose stays) list of many choices.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
misanthropic humanist, 12 Jan 2007 @ 11:47am

Re: The good old days....
"What happened to the good old days when you used to install a piece of software and all you got was that software."

Now is the new good old days :) Whenever I want a new piece of software Tyshaun I just type:

apt-get install newsoftware

Done. Then I click the new icon on my desktop or applications manager. It's that simple. No bundled spyware or aps I didn't ask for. That's the system I've been using for the last 7 years.

You're probably using some obsolete operating system and need to update that's all. ;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
all your screenz are belong to m$, 12 Jan 2007 @ 12:12pm

Re: Re: The good old days....
What, per tell is this thing you refer to as "typing".. I thought everything was done with a mouse now??!
*looks for the "yes, I agree" box*
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Adam, 12 Jan 2007 @ 12:35pm

Re: The good old days....
No offense Tyshaun, but in MY good ol' days, you could fit like 10 programs on a single floppy disk :) Not going quite as far back as the 8 1/4 floppy, but still a ways back! :) Ahh the days of whole punching floppies, and 9600 (blazing fast) baud (compared to 1200 baud). Adam
[ link to this | view in thread ]
David, 12 Jan 2007 @ 12:40pm

Re: Re: Re: The good old days....
There's also a graphical package manager for those of you who like clicking ;) You can search it easily, for many different types of applications
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dam, 12 Jan 2007 @ 1:04pm

Re: Adobe Reader
Stop using the Adobe reader. What was once a decent piece of software has turned into a bloated piece of crap that always wants you to install stuff you don't want or need.

Instead, try Foxit, a free PDF reader from Foxitsoftware.com. You can even install the Foxit PDF creator for free, but it will imprint an "evaluation" message on documents. But, it also installs a PDF printer driver which allows you to save web pages or any document as a PDF. Very cool.

Disclosure: I do NOT work for Foxit, nor does my brother, mother, sister, father, wife, mistress or anyone else I know. I'm just a satisified user.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Gyp Joe, 12 Jan 2007 @ 1:09pm

Booble & Java Bungware...
That is nothing compared to what Sun & Booble have cooked-up. The next time you do a Java update, ensure you select Custom Install because they will install the Booble Toolbar. Yes, that's right, the Booble Toolbar comes automatically with the Java Security Updater... Pure evil...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rich Kulawiec, 12 Jan 2007 @ 1:33pm

There's a deeper problem here
And that is that people are still using IE, despite the fact
that just about every credible (that is: not funded by Microsoft)
security researcher out there has spent the last several years
shouting "DO NOT USE IE" from the rooftop.

IE is not a web browser any more than Outlook is a mail client.
Both are malware download-and-installation engines that seem
to accidentally have had a few add-ons of marginal use thrown
in to get people to run them. Just perusing the archives of
bugtraq or full-disclosure or others lists reveals an ongoing
parade of security holes in them -- many of which are (a) remotely
exploitable and (b) pathways to total system compromise.

Yes, other browsers and other mail clients have their issues,
but none of them come even remotely close to having a record
like THIS. It's hideous. (And how appalling is it that the
richest, most powerful software company on the planet can't
even write a friggin' *mail client* that's safe to use? Sheesh.)

[ This is why, by the way, I tell people that there is -- to a very
good first approximation -- no such thing as an "email virus".
There are (nearly) only "Outlook viruses", because other mail
clients are usually not insane enough to repurpose message
content as executable code. ]

I strongly discourage friends/clients/colleagues from using any
M$ products, but I tell them that if they're stuck doing so, then
the single best thing that they can do to protect themselves --
before worrying about things like firewalls and AV software --
is to dump IE and Outlook. Those two steps remove two of
the primary infection vectors, at which point it's actually worth
putting effort into other measures.

So...if someone does some nasty via IE, nobody should be in the
least bit surprised. It's not remarkable: it's normal.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Govind, 12 Jan 2007 @ 1:35pm

The future
It's just a beginning. The worst is yet to come. The future belongs to human intuitive technology. There will not be any search box and search button to click on. A portion of your screen will always will showing relavant items for anything you type in any application.
Sound's crappy, isn't it but I am sure there are dozens of geeks working on such stuff to make your life easy or hell, depends on how you see it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2007 @ 2:15pm

Knock MS if you want, but at least they have advanced beyond the need to edit config files in notepad (Thunderbird).

Back to the point of bundled software and dirty tricks.

Forget Adobe, use CutePDF for creating PDF files. They have a free version that does not watermark the result.

I don't need another Toolbar in my Browser! Every app out there that wants to keep me as a loyal customer had better stop trying to bundle something else. I am already making a list of what programs do this, and am looking for alternatives to every one of them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Megan White, 12 Jan 2007 @ 2:48pm

Yahoo Search Engine
Yes, I was baited with this Yahoo thing late one night while not thinking clearly! I thought I was downloading an upgrade to Windows. Next thing I knew my whole page had changed, with Yahoo crap everywhere...it eliminated my Favorites, something I use continually. Thankfully my son was able to get rid of it. It was very annoying.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jan 2007 @ 2:49pm

it means there losing against google
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mr Schotz, 12 Jan 2007 @ 2:57pm

virus
I tried to install Yahoo tool bar but my anti virus warned me not to
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Stu, 12 Jan 2007 @ 5:23pm

CutePDF by Acro Software is outstanding.

It produces PDFs with searchable text and small file sizes.

It installs fast with no unpleasant surprises.

They also have CutePDF Professional (not free) and many other useful products, all reasonably priced, and useful.

btw, I'm just a user, not their employee. :))
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Bumbling old fool, 13 Jan 2007 @ 3:01pm

A company of its stature?
HAHAHAHA, that's funny stuff there.

I have never thought highly of Yahoo!, and tactics like this don't suprise me in the slightest bit.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jeff, 13 Jan 2007 @ 11:18pm

Dirty Tricks 9.0
This is just ANOTHER wake-up call that should be telling people who haven't realized it yet...

YAHOO SUCKS.

Wasn't anyone paying attention when Yahoo joined forces with AOL to support Goodmail Systems' "Certified Email"??????

Goodmail's angle: http://www.goodmailsystems.com/senders/

EFF's angle: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004398.php

Again, for anyone not inclined to visit the links, here's the executive summary:

YAHOO SUCKS.
[ link to this | view in thread ]