The Firefox browser that ships with the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system will use Yahoo as its default search engine in exchange for a revenue sharing deal from that search portal, Ubuntu’s makers announced earlier this week.
Developer Canonical’s Rick Spencer made the announcement on a public Ubuntu mailing list, but stressed that users would be able to easily select the default search engine of their choice. Nevertheless, search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are likely to see changes in their results on Ubuntu platforms. "I am pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu platform," Spencer writes.
The move might cause some comment from Google, whose search revenues make up the vast majority of Firefox’s funding, and whose own systems run on a specialized version of the Ubuntu OS.
UK tech website The Register points out that, because of Microsoft’s pending takeover of Yahoo’s search function, "Microsoft will essentially be paying people to build a Linux distro."
