I find it distasteful because it means that in searches which naive users may be accustomed to being local searches of their computer, those search queries are also being passed to some third-party (Amazon) API. If they're interested in this revenue stream, I suspect Ubuntu isn't going to make a big deal of this information leakage at installation time.
Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
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Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#52Why don't they just ask for money from users? Have two versions: an ad supported one which people can easily remove the ads, and a paid version that doesn't come with the ad package by default, and maybe a few extra "premium" perks like wallpapers, themes, whatever that aren't in the FOSS repos together with extra backup space. They could charge on a par with OS X, say a total of $29 for the next two versions.
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#53Just a note: all the ads will be removable with the command: sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping --purge
You type too much:
sudo dpkg -P unity-lens-shoppingRe: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#54From the actual link:
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/09/online-shopping-features-...
>For example, when you want to search for “dishwashers” on Amazon you can just enter “Dishwashers” in the Dash and a small line of “suggested items” from Amazon will appear.
>The same happens when you search for a local file or app from the Home Lens.
>So yes, you can expect to see self-help guides on compassion when trying to launch Empathy.
>‘More Suggestions’ is a strange turn of phrase; most people don’t tend to expect product suggestions when looking for their e-mail app. But I can cede that it’s a far better name than that used in development: ‘treat yourself’
Showing ads when you search locally seems a tad much and a waste of system resources. Isn't this equivalent to showing shopping ads based on keyword searches in Spotlight and the Windows Start menu?
Edit: Just realized that I sometimes type keywords to find local files matching filenames and content that's personal in nature. Does this mean all those keywords are sent to Amazon and perhaps data mined to show personalized results?
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#55Whether you like the ad-supported model or not, this is just bad UI! Who searches their programs and wants to see matching books and music? I could understand listing other software for sale, but this is daft. I doubt they'll get anything but complaints about this and it'll go away.
You're not by default searching just programs when you search via Unity in the first place.
The default for me is a combined pane that shows recent apps, recent files and downloads. If I start typing a search term, whichever categories has matches show up.
If I want a specific category, such as just applications, I can select that.
Maybe they'll change the defaults, or ask question during install, but I suspect most of the people who might care will easily figure out how to remove/disable it.
(Frankly Unity is the most productive UI I've had since my Amiga days. I was planning on installing a tiling WM before I tried it, but then I ended up staying with Unity because it was such a smooth experience, even with far less tweaking than what I'm used to have to do.
My most frequently used apps are all just one key combination away. Everything else one key + search. I run most stuff full screen, but with the global menu enabled in most apps, most apps waste very little space even when I "just" have them fill all the available space. It's the closest approximation Amiga-style screens using workspaces I've experienced on Linux.
The only thing I hate is the loss of spatial file browsing)
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#56It all depends upon the details of implementation. If they're spamming the user with "and before you open this window our sponsor would like to bring you this message..." then that would be pretty bad, and I'd stop using Ubuntu as a result. On the other hand, if you can use the lens to do shopping and get reasonable search results from a range of companies configurable by location, etc, then I think that would be a u…
Frankly, if they give me Amazon results only, that's fine by me. I often end up buying from Amazon even when they're more expensive due to Prime. If I could buy without even going to their website, that'd be perfect.
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#57It's weird. Who Canonical thinks their customers are? Unity + ads is not something developers enjoy, and I'd guess 90%+ of Ubuntu desktop users are developers...
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#58Ads in an operation system? No thank you.
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#59Unity has been an epic disaster. Sad.
I love Unity. It's the best Linux desktop I've had. I've used Linux on my desktop since '95, and Unity is the first Linux desktop UI that I feel is as snappy and productive as my Amiga used to be (yes, seriously)...
Re: Ubuntu Will Now Have Amazon Ads Pre-Installed
#60In fact, I just realised that I really like Ubuntu and would happily make a monthly donation to support it (and can afford to) but I've never seen anything that suggested I do so. I can't find any hints on ubuntu.com on how to donate (though they have a shop, I don't want any "swag"). Shuttleworth has always said he wants to make it a viable business; perhaps he's worried people would donate instead of having their b…
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