Google to offer users a choice of default search engine on Android in the EU – but it's pay to play Google's Android will charge internet search providers to appear on its court-mandated option screen from early next year. The ad giant's mobile platform was forced by the European Commission to offer users a choice of search providers rather than just defaulting to Google. As a result, consumers in Europe see an option screen …
You know, I'm not so sure. How does it work with the UK and France now about to tax *revenue*?
If that applies, charging themselves won't be free, there'll be a tax paid on it. It could become an incentive to more countries to join in.
So, I'm not as convinced as others that this is a Google victory. It could be a very reasonable compromise, going inn the right direction for all parties involved.
Looking forward to see the detail of how it'll work in practice...
there'll be a tax paid on it
No there won't - and that's not tax avoidance either.
Even if there is an inter-company hcarge & payment, the tax effect is nil. Whatever comes in as income (and hence would be taxable profit) is also an expense either to the same company or another in the same group (and hence allowable against tax as a business expenditure). Thus there's a saving in corporation tax on one end which exactly balances the extra corporation tax at the other end. This is quite basic knowledge about taxation that should be known by most people (and anyone in business).
However, what is normally done as a tax avoidance measure is to base one end of the transaction in a low tax location - so the tax on the income is lower than the tax reduced as a result of the expense at the other end. The classic example of this is where ${WellKnownBrand} sets up a subsidiary in a tax haven which just happens to own the worldwide rights to ${WellKnownBrand}. Said brand identity is then licensed to other business units around the world in return for a payment. These other units therefore reduce their profits (and tax) due to the legitimate expense, while the brand holding company makes all the profit but pays little tax due to being based in a low tax location. Or rather than a brand licensing system, it could be a requirement for each country's subsidiary to buy it's coffer beans from one other subsidiary - at a priace which is "a bit above" market value.
Google have won this one. There may be some who'd pay for the chance to gamble on becoming more popular than Google but I can't imagine there are many that would do a better job of integrating with Android.
And if they do Google can keep changing things so google search works and the third parties don't. It's how they managed to kill the rendering engine in Edge.
Unless I am alone, having used the internet since before there was an internet, I have seen searches get less and less efficient.To the extent that they are now not returning hits to data that I know is there. Plenty of sponsored ads and cruft. But the actual meat ?
There is a gap in the market for an enterprise search engine - even at a monthly subscription - that eliminates all SEO trickery, ads, and simply returns the best list of documents searched for. Closer to how a proper academic search engine should work.
Every so often one of my managers will get a bit excited about "AI". I have a stock set of google queries that disabuse him of the worry that Something Is Happening in "AI".
I completely agree. There was a time (not that long ago) when google returned useful results. For whatever search terms you put in, you could get dozens of pretty good and varied results.
It's now pretty much useless. No matter what you put in, you'll get a link to Amazon, a link to Wikipedia, and the rest (all three or four!) of the results seem to point to the same article (which quite often bears no resemblance to the search terms).
And the "exact phrase" option simply does not work any more and hasn't for years now.
So yes, it's shite!
ps - Try Ecosia - not as extensive as google but it tends to return what google used to.
It is a god idea to read their policy and permissions before installing. You may not be happy for a search engine to download stuff you haven't asked for and to open files on your PC. Or change what you get to see on a page. Not to mention the fact it wants permission to read all your username and password fields. It seems to have delusions of replacing/supplementing your adblocker, noscript and other plugins rather than just concentrating on providing search results.
Their intentions may be entirely honorable but some of the things you have to permit seem open to abuse, especially if a hacker adds extensions to the plugin. It is also not clear whether the plugin is active even when you are not specifically using ecosia for a search.
Remember back when Google search proudly proclaimed that it was an "and" search by default? Now you get to scratch your head at the irrelevant results, before noticing the tiny "Missing: <most important keyword>" bit below the results, because Google's mighty algorithms have decided that they know what you're searching for better than you do. Progress. Google is still the best general search engine IMO, but it takes more effort now to make it work properly.
I second the DDG recommendation. I've been using it for about three years now, at first it was a bit painful and I had to use the '!g' option to search google more often than I'd like. Nowadays I hardly ever do, because DDG has improved and Google has somehow managed to get worse. Most of the time when I can't find what I want on DDG and try Google I can't find it there either.
Somewhat unrelated, but whatever search engines are doing to rank "quora" highly please stop. That is always the most useless search result listed!
The best are when you are searching for support or documentation on a product. Enter "handbook for <device>" or "<device> error code 123" and the page will be littered with online shops, comparison sites, reviews of the product, you have to dig a long way down to find anything relevant to the search.
I mean, if you are searching for help on a product, especially an error code, chances are that you won't be looking to buy another one!
As a result, consumers in Europe see an option screen when they first set up an Android device offering them the chance to set the default search engine for the Chrome browser.
Isn't it also for the search bar / standard search in Android. There is also supposed to be a choice of browser, so it won't necessarily be for Chrome, either.
How on earth have the EU let them get away with charging search engines to be put on the EU mandated search engine select screen?
No doubt Google is so synonymous with search now they probably think 90% of people will choose Google anyway. As a lot of people have probably only ever of heard of Google and maybe Bing, but that's probably just because their Windows 10 PC was set up to use Bing by default.
I have to say most of my searches do go through Google as when I did try Yahoo (so Bing results) I found a lot of the results for technical searches were just pages stuffed with keywords trying to get you to sign up to paid support services. I do use Yandex for its image searches though as found it to be better than both Google and Bing, especially when doing a reverse image searches.
consequently they can play their little games without us
Did we get a vote on Googxit?
I'd bet the honorable? Members of Private Enterprise wouldn't have been as keen to rush that one through...as long as Alphabet kept the brown envelopes coming regularly.
Nope, Google we don't get a choice in leave means leave, you can only minimise your contact.
Once a user chooses a search provider...
it will be set on the home screen - I don't want any search provider on my home screen
as well as becoming the default search engine for Chrome - not much use since I never use Chrome
It will also install the search app from the chosen provider - no fucking thanks, I chose what apps I want to install there is enough pre-installed crap as it is
All this is going to do is annoy the hell out of me as well as giving me ANOTHER app to uninstall.
I#ve never worked out how to get rid of the 'core' apps that I never use
Bit trite, sorry, but LineageOS (and I dare say other alternatives - I only know LOS) works perfectly well without the Gapps.
I'm going to be in the market for a new phone soon, and I think one of my main criteria is going to be the ability to install LineageOS. Sort of cuts down on the choice though, particularly in the sub-£150 market :-/
M.
@osmarks
"It is in theory open source, but huge amounts of important functionality have been moved into Google Play Services and whatnot."
Sorry I wasnt commenting on it being open source but the operating system is freely distributed because it pays for itself through the default settings it uses. The reason Google has put a price on it is because the value already exists it just wasnt paid with money previously, where now it is.
I am not particularly for or against Google but this action isnt really a new cost, its just a cost moved from non-cash to cash.
On Windows 7 Microsoft's randimising algorithm favoured IE. It didn't randomize, will Google get away with this mistake too?
On Windows 7 when sp1 was released a year or so later, part way into the 5 years, the browser choice disappeared totally, oops, will Google get away with this misrake as well?
On the latter part, why is it that Microsoft was allowed to get away this shortening their term without any consequences?
Google are taking the piss out of the EU bigtime. That is never a good idea. Give it five years and their ass will have such a huge bitemark in it they will not be able to sit on their laurels for the foreseeable future.*
*(Me, mix metaphors? What a dog's breakfast of a kite to fly!)
No one in the UK will have to worry about losing Google search or get any of their increased wealth back in tax as none of that EU bullshit will apply to us when Boris rules the world
He will give Google tax breaks to take all our NHS data and store it because we can't afford EMC storage for it all now as the as all that foreign stuff will be too expense for us to buy.
But we will be happy and free of the EU tyranny that seeks to cut down those helpful multinationals that have budget surpluses we can only dream of.
If i do use google to find something using a different browser, I get nagged to change to Chrome, same thing on youtube, and I have noticed in side by side tests, in youtube i see a lot more ads if i use a non chrome browser, , ie on the same video, i see no ad on chrome vs 2 unskippable 30 sec ads using non crome, and another in the middle as well
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