22 August 2008
Windows Live Search badness
Posted by Christopher under: Linux & Open Source .
Its all about perception. Sometimes you get the idea Microsoft might be playing a little bit nicer.
Then you try doing a search for Firefox using Live Search. The first non-sponsored link is for firefox dot org dot uk (no, I’m not even linking to it) which bizarrely has no download link for Firefox and has the tiny disclaimer that it has nothing to do with Mozilla or Google. Instead it offers the Google Pack for download.
The second link is ie7.com which at least has a large firefox icon which then links directly to the proper firefox download site.
In fact, nowhere on the list of results do you get what would be considered a “good” result. Is this just the usual Live Search naffness or is it just another case for the European Competition Commission?
4 Comments so far...
John Says:
22 August 2008 at 8:06 pm.
I get in this order:
1) http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox
2) http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html
3) http://www.mozilla.org
4) http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox
5) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox
6) firefox.org/news
7) get-firefox.org.cn
8) http://www.mozilla-europe.org
and my favorite:
9) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083943
I’m in the US. Tried it with both my work’s IE6, and my remote home PC’s firefox. Same results.
Scott Baker Says:
22 August 2008 at 9:38 pm.
firefox dot org dot uk has a huge download link when I go to it. It does say it’s not officially supported by Firefox or Google, but there is a big download link in the middle. The link actually points at mozilla.org so it’s at least the real file.
Scott Baker Says:
22 August 2008 at 9:43 pm.
That’s weird… where are you located? If I search for Oregon in the US I get totally legit search items:
Christopher Says:
23 August 2008 at 12:17 pm.
John, Scott,
Looks like it’s just here in the U.K. See update post. Hmmm
