Firefox Needs Update

[clem]

belovedmonster: That's a smart idea. I'm not planning to do anything else though, the reason I'm changing this google search plugin is simply because it could (will) make us grow and let us start working full time on Mint.

[ElEdwards]

Clem,
I just reset my homepage to the default, too.
.... but I did notice that after I set and saved my Google Preferences from this page, it returns an "unknown url" page.

El

[cmost]

@LinuxSuper There's no reason for you to be so obnoxious. If you don't care for Mint's version of Firefox, then don't use it. Simple. You can install the generic Firfox with Ubuntuzilla, or use Swiftfox, or use another browser altogether. In any case, there is no reason to put down Linux Mint or deride its developers. Everyone has to make a living, including the developers of Mint. Free software doesn't come from thin air.

[clem]

Note: LinuxSuper asked for his forum account to be deleted. As he only had made 8 posts in the forums and 3 of them were quite insulting I decided to delete the posts as well. I'm happy to see there's a way to change the search plugin to its original google values. Although I don't want to encourage people to do this it's good for them to know. I'll make a blog post about this and include a chapter on this in the Elyssa user guide.

Thanks,
Clem.

[exploder]

I am more than happy to use the new version of Firefox with the described changes. I have seen revenue that Mint has earned put back into the project and has benefited everyone. This is also an opportunity for us to help out financially. If a very small inconvenience can generate this kind of revenue, it is very worthwhile. I hope other's will have the same view on this and do their part and help out.

[Foomandoonian]

Like most people, I was annoyed by the Mint search, but now have a better understanding of why it's like that. I think the important takeaway here is is to communicate with your users, like clem did so eloquently. Remember that when you're bigger than Microsoft

(PS: I'm happy to support Mint, but I have only ever clicked on about two ads online and one of those was by accident! )

[Peterburd]

To change the subject

My credit union's website won't allow me to log in using the latest Mint Firefox. It didn't let me do it with the old version either, and I was hoping the upgrade would fix it. The version used in Feisty worked fine. What is it about Mint Firefox that it would be rejected? I understand there might be more than one answer. Any suggestion or point to a good link would be appreciated.

[clem]

blues-guy: Mozilla doesn't use a Google Custom Search Engine, they use something tailored by Google specifically for them... they are in a position to use the default engine and get a commission at the same time. We're small and Google isn't interested in giving us (or other browsers) the same ability so we're using their simple Custom Search Engine in which they don't feature all the shiny things. There are signs that cached links may come back though and for the Images we simply added a separate search plugin. Trust me we did ask Google to activate these features, they're not saying no, they simply don't want to comment on this.

Peterburd: I suspect the website you're talking about checks the user agent and requires Internet Explorer. You can install Internet Explorer under Linux by looking here: http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page

Tony G: We're planning on branding Konqueror and Opera as well (user agent, default configuration, start page, search plugin). This time we'll make sure people know why we're doing this and how to revert to the original search plugin if they want to.

Clem.

[pallabbasu]

Changing the google search is some how irritating for me and few of my friends and we like to install ubuntu firefox or change the search engine etc. But to help our beloved Mint, we just like to run an automated script which will automatically click on the Ads( we know it is not the cleanest deal). Any suggestion?

[g0lrk]

Well I have no problem with the 'minty' version of Google.
Let it ride as long as, I can put up with it as it doesn't really make that much difference to me here.
Well done Clem, and long live Mint.
Kevin.

[clem]

automated script which will automatically click on the Ads

Please don't. This goes against Google's terms.

[pallabbasu]

Ok, we won't. We will use mint search for sometimes.

[Fred]

Well, for me, this is a pretty much an insignificant issue. If you really don't like it with that much conviction, change it. That is one of Linux's strong suites. You can make it what you want it to be. You don't have to settle for what the default is.

On the other hand, if we are down to debating the layout of a simple search page, that just reinforces my opinion that Clem and crew must be doing quite a bit right.

My thoughts,

Fred

[Husse]

As a member of the team my opinion may be thought of as biased
But, quite honestly - I did not even notice the change at first

[Husse]

The results were so heavily slanted compared to the google.com page

???
Do you mean you got different results - it's exactly the same search engine
I get slightly different results as in the Mint search I'm on google.com but on "normal" google I'm redirected to google.se which has more hits on swedish sites
You may also end up in a local google in the "normal mode"
Apart from that you get the same result (just checked)

[cgraham]

When will Firefox 2.0.0.14 be updated?

[clem]

I'm waiting on the upstream patching by Ubuntu for 2.0.0.14. By the way, I think it's a good idea to change the favicon for Google Images, what do you recommend we use instead of the Google Logo? Or maybe we can add a little image as an emblem on top of google... (maybe we can put a mint logo on top of Google for the custom search as well).

Clem.

[guest]

I personally like google because of it's simplicity, and quick loading time, I don't see this from the mint homepage/search engine, so, although I love linux mint, I would prefer a default google one. If mint developers could come up with a more minimalistic version, I'd definitely switch to it!

[Fred]

guest,

Did you read enough of this thread to see that Mint gets a revenue stream from this? Do you donate anything to Mint to help support the distro? Even if it is true that your load times are not as quick, isn't it a small price to pay for such a nice distro that costs you nothing monetarily?

Fred

[cmost]

guest,

Did you read enough of this thread to see that Mint gets a revenue stream from this? Do you donate anything to Mint to help support the distro? Even if it is true that your load times are not as quick, isn't it a small price to pay for such a nice distro that costs you nothing monetarily?

Fred

Come on Fred, let's not be guilting users into doing things our way. That's too much like Microsoft for my tastes. If this user wants vanilla Firefox, then he should use vanilla Firefox (and we should help him install it - no questions asked.) Linux, and certainly Linux Mint is not an OS with strings attached.