Verizon forcing Bing on Blackberry Users
Posted by Cody in 
I’m an admitted computer geek, meaning I gladly take that label. Part of this responsibility (of geekiness) involves using different types of technology, not sticking to one thing. At home I run Linux on a machine as well as Windows on my personal laptop.
I also hold grudges when things annoy me. It’s silly, but if a program or company does something that really ticks me off, I may find myself going to their competition just to spite them. I’m sure I’m not alone there.
One example I can think of is with the browser search engines. I run Firefox, and I have my search engine set to Google as I like using Google to search, as well as Google for the keyword search. A year or so ago when GaiaOnline.com released their toolbar I installed it. Even today I’m still not sure how it happened, whether it was an unfortunate accident or intentional. Whatever the cause, the toolbar seemed to have some sort of contract with Yahoo. Upon installation my search changed to Yahoo, and worse (in my opinion) it changed my keyword search to Yahoo. The search bar could be changed back, however the keyword search was forced. If you switched it back (something you have to actually edit the config for Firefox) it would be forced back to Yahoo when the browser restarted. After reporting this, it was never fixed.
After that I’ve refused to use Yahoo (if I’m able to avoid it). Seemed tainted to me.
It looks like Bing (Microsoft) is heading in the same direction. Verizon has removed the search options from their Blackberries meaning users are forced to use Bing. Of course, forcing a specific setting (especially when forcing people to use a particular company’s software) when it was previously optional will cause users to hit the roof. Which it has.
Bing looks interesting, and I have tried it. But it doesn’t have that spark that’d cause me to jump ship from Google. The fact that it’s looking to force people on phones to use it just cements Google’s place as my search engine. I’m not a fan of tactics like these.
[polldaddy poll=2416800]
