OpenDNS has put up a post pertaining to the user experience people on Dell machines are getting thanks to a Google partnership that started about a year ago.

In an 800×600 resolution, the Dell branded search page is filled with advertisements. You have to scroll past them to get to any real search results. Here is the scary bit from the article:

This page isn’t being shown to Dell owners just because they have the Google Toolbar. In fact, uninstalling the Google Toolbar won’t get rid of it. Dell and Google are now installing a second program on computers that intercepts all sorts of queries that the browser would normally try to resolve. This program has no clear name and is very hard to uninstall. In some circles, people would call this spyware.

Some people are attacking OpenDNS, which could be considered a competing product in some ways, for posting such information, but others see it as an eye opener, and something that does need to be brought to people’s attention. I think it is an interesting article, but it might be filled with a bit too much OpenDNS’s own features, thus seeming like a promotion tool.

It is also hard to blame Dell for doing something like this, as they mention in the article, profit margins on computers are really low, sometimes running at a loss, and so installing these types of things help them recoup costs off users that are a little less technology savvy (most Dell users).

*Note: I use OpenDNS’s service, and I have been quite happy, but I have tried to keep this as bias free as possible.

Related posts:

Dell and Google Near Software Pact
Dell Going AMD
Google My Search History
Google Releases BETA Firefox Toolbar
Vote to have Firefox pre-installed on Dell systems

Hope you like that post!

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