Why was the default search changed to DuckDuckGo?

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Moonchild
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Re: Why was the default search changed to DuckDuckGo?

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-03-19, 12:13

Sablesword wrote:The question I think is important: Will future upgrades respect user-modified settings wrt the default search engine? Having to change the default back to google every time after an update would strike me as being more than just mildly rude.
Pale Moon will not touch user-defined settings. Once you've made a specific choice, it will remember and use it, no matter how many times you update.

Keep in mind: You did not make a choice before so submitted yourself to whatever was the program's default choice (In case of Mozilla-based browsers that is Google). Just because the previous default aligned with your personal choice doesn't automatically make a change in recommendation or default "rude".

Maybe people don't exactly understand what a default setting is, so a simple definition here:
Default settings

When talking about settings of a program, the default settings are the settings chosen by the software developer and not the user. For example, when opening Microsoft Word the default font setting is a font size of 11.
Source: http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/d/default.htm

Keywords there being "settings chosen by the developer". As long as you use default settings in a program, your settings will follow along with any developer-made choices when the program is updated. That is normal practice, and there is no reason to paint it black.

Now, that is about as clear as I can make it, and if anyone still thinks it was somehow untoward of me, then they are free to switch to another piece of software that comes "out of the box" with all of their favorite default settings that developers will never change (good luck with that). 8-)
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"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
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Night Wing
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Re: Why was the default search changed to DuckDuckGo?

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-03-19, 12:56

Sablesword wrote:I would have prefered more warning that the upgrade changed the default search engine. Not giving that warning does seem mildly rude.
The change to DDG for the default search engine was given in the Release Notes on the Pale Moon Home Page. It's under "Fixes/Changes" dated (2014-03-10).. The link for these Release notes for version 24.4.0 is below.

http://www.palemoon.org/releasenotes-ng.shtml

But some people, like yourself, don't read Release Notes for versions of the browsers they choose to update to. They just blindly update manually or keep the automatic updates turned on and then get an unwelcome surprise when things change. Then they come on here to complain........which I find "rude".
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alan9182

Re: Why was the default search changed to DuckDuckGo?

Unread post by alan9182 » 2014-03-19, 20:23

Can DuckDuckGo be configured for a "Start Page Experience" ?

I quite like the Google capability which is preserved in Start Page
that I am told how many results were found for my search phrase.

From the number of results I can immediately recognize if my search is :-
too general with too many pages of useless results ;
or invalid due to my spelling, or too specific and unlikely to include relevant results similar to my query.

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Moonchild
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Re: Why was the default search changed to DuckDuckGo?

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-03-20, 00:48

Night Wing wrote:The change to DDG for the default search engine was given in the Release Notes on the Pale Moon Home Page.
Not just that, I took the time to write the very post this topic started with to try and explain why I changed the default. Strictly speaking I didn't even have to do that.
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
"Linux makes everything difficult." -- Lyceus Anubite

dark_moon

Re: Why was the default search changed to DuckDuckGo?

Unread post by dark_moon » 2014-03-20, 07:24

I would say you close this thread, since all is explained.
We have a FAQ and the changelog.

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