Canonical reverses it decision, Google to ride Firefox in Ubuntu 10.04

“The default search provider for new installations of Ubuntu 10.04 ‘Lucid’ and upgrades will no longer be Google but Yahoo!” – i wrote that statement on this blog a few months ago. Then, Canonical tried to convince every one that was the right choice, the “revenue sharing deal” with Yahoo was going to bring in fresh cash for the many Ubuntu projects. that was then, today Ubuntu’s Rick Spencer in a few words tries to explain why that deal wasn’t a deal – for Ubuntu users.

When choosing the best default search provider, we consider factors such as user experience, user preferences, and costs and benefits for Ubuntu and the browsers and other projects that make up Ubuntu. Up until Ubuntu 9.10 these defaults have always been Firefox and Google. Earlier in the 10.04 cycle I announced that we would be changing the default search provider to Yahoo!, and we implemented that change for several milestones.

But Eric ended-up making a gaffe; “In this case, choosing Google will be familiar to everybody upgrading from 9.10 to 10.04”, that was quickly underlined by Mike Rushton. If familiarity was so important for Ubuntu users then why stick to that “unpopular” decision that moves Ubuntu 10.04 window controls to the left – it certainly renders Ubuntu 10.04 less-familiar to those who upgrading from 9.10 argues Rushton. I guess familiarity is no longer an excuse.