No Longer the Ask Toolbar
We’ve all dealt with it before. You update Java. You see that it’s asking you if you want to include the Ask.com toolbar in your browser. You angrily decline, or worse, don’t notice it and end up downloading it. It’s plagued innocent computer users for years now. Well, the long reign of terror is over… kind of. Oracle’s Java will no longer ask you if you want to include the Ask toolbar as part of the update. Unfortunately, instead of being replaced by nothing, Ask is being replaced by Yahoo.
Ask Has Been On Its Way Out For Some Time
With Ask.com mattering less and less in the world of search engines, this is hardly a surprise to anyone who uses the internet. But it’s likely not the only reason Java made this decision. Java trying to sneak these programs past you and force them as your default homepages and search engines feels like, at best, a moral grey area, and at worst straight up malware. Microsoft is inclined to agree with that; they recently classified an older Ask toolbar version as malware. With Ask plummeting in popularity and causing a slight controversy, Java going a different way seemed inevitable.
Yahoo Continues Its Efforts
Lately, Yahoo has been attempting to pull off something of a renaissance and remain in the public eye, even in ways that don’t just relate to it as a search engine. Yahoo Screen has streamed original shows and picked up existing shows so as to challenge Netflix and Hulu. Last year, Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer made the shocking announcement that they had solidified a deal with Mozilla to become Firefox’s default search engine, replacing the giant that is Google. Were you to, whether intentionally or accidentally, agree to download Yahoo with Java, it would become the default search engine in both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, while also becoming your Chrome homepage.
Still, this is a deal that could go either way for Yahoo. There’s potential for it to work, gaining Yahoo more clicks and more revenue. But there’s also a lot of potential for backlash. What Java did with Ask is shady, and switching it to Yahoo doesn’t exactly make it less shady. There’s every chance people could lose respect for Yahoo as a result of this move.
