During Yahoo’s annual shareholders meeting earlier today, the company announced details of a new partnership with Oracle that will make Yahoo the default search engine for Java. This change has already been reflected in an update to the Java installer.
Before your system completes Java setup with the newly updated installer, you’ll be offered the chance to “get the best of the web with Yahoo,” as the software package puts it. In practical terms, that sets Yahoo as your default search engine and home page, and adds a Yahoo link on the new tab page in your Web browser.
This will go into effect today for users running Google Chrome or Internet Explorer as their primary browser. Firefox users may not see anything any different to how it would have displayed before, as developers Mozilla have already made a deal with Yahoo that’s set to last until 2019. The Oracle deal looks set to run until 2018 based on current information.
Cross-promotion like this seems like Yahoo’s best option if the company is looking to compete with Google and Microsoft’s Bing. A report from Tom’s Hardware suggests that this move is designed to combat the advantage Microsoft enjoys thanks to its ecosystem of devices. However, the choice of Oracle as a partner in this endeavour might paint the service in an undesirable light.
In March of this year, Oracle came under fire for the inclusion of an easily missed option to install an Ask toolbar within a Java setup package for Mac OS X. Yahoo pushing their search engine in much the same manner might put users off — but whether or not it’s a quality service will decide.
