"Search using Google" goes to Custom Search and new tabs go to the Ubuntu Google Start Page

[Michael Maltese]

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

I just upgraded to firefox version 3.0.11+build2+nobinonly-0ubuntu2.me001 on karmic.

When I try to use the search bar in the upper right-hand corner to search Google, it instead takes me to a Google Custom Search for "9.10 Alpha 3 Experiment B." I have no option to change this back to the generic Google page, and the generic Google search is not available for download (one can only download Google search for individual languages, presumably because it NORMALLY comes preinstalled).
Also, any new tabs I open, instead of being blank or going to my set homepage (which is "about:blank"), go to "chrome://me001/content/text.html", again without giving me any option to change this.

What the fuck Ubuntu. Whatever asshole thought this was a good idea needs to put it back the way it was. I use your operating system because I want to get away from invasive marketing shit. Is this what free-as-in-speech software is about?

[Michael McKinley (m-mckinley)]

I noticed this too and was annoyed. A workaround is to disable/remove the Multisearch extension.

[Stefan Hamminga (stefanhamminga)]

Another confirm here, this is indeed high on my 'not done' list, right up there with apple and microsoft...

Please at least give users advance notice before doing stuff like this AND give the user the option to 'opt out'.

[Michael Maltese (dimalta)]

Thanks Michael, disabling Multisearch fixed it.
They need to make it easier to figure that out, though; I didn't even know I had the Multisearch (presumably installed on upgrade without telling me?).

[Jeffrey Baker (jwbaker)]

This is horrifying, not just because of the adverts at the top, but also because the custom search is not anywhere near as useful as the normal google search page. The custom search doesn't make links to maps, finance, scholar, etc. It only has main index results and, of course, a ton of adverts.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

Thank you for your bug report. To maintain a respectful atmosphere, please follow the code of conduct - http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct/ . Bug reports are handled by humans, the majority of whom are volunteers, so please bear this in mind.

As for the bugs, the search bug is bug 402767 and the tab bug is bug 403246. As the search bug is primary, I am marking this bug a duplicate of bug 402767. You can subscribe yourself to bug 403246 if you like.

Thank you and please report any further issues you may find.

[Keith Hughitt (keith-hughitt)]

I agree. Having quick-search use the custom search with no images, etc. options, and defaulting to "Ubuntu" instead of "web" was not a fun experience.