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Ubuntu Ads? Let's set the record straight.


Roland Taylor's Gravatar

Roland Taylor
published Sept. 22, 2012, 8:05 p.m.


<h1>Update:</h1> [important]I've been told that there are indeed links to Amazon and the Ubuntu One Music Store added to the launcher, but strangely, after updating and resetting my launcher's favourites, I still don't see them. I will keep investigating, but I would like to remind everyone - launcher items to launch webstores are <strong>not</strong> advertisements.[/important] <h1>Myths, Lies, and Scandal</h1> First of all, with all due respect to children, let me say to all those acting like bickering babies: <strong>Grow up.</strong>

It's no secret, I'm no sheep and I definitely don't agree with many decisions made with regards to Ubuntu. I have actually gotten into not-so-happy exchanges with Mark Shuttleworth on bug reports before (I don't think he would remember me, fortunately), and I continue to speak out against bad decisions when I see them. Most of us here at 2buntu.com do just that. However, we try to avoid going into the silly realm of the sandbox, where everyone is a bully and everyone is a victim.

With relation to the Shopping Lens in Ubuntu 12.10. this is exactly what has happened. Left, right, center, up, down, however you twist it, people have been spreading this silly lie that Ubuntu comes with Ads in 12.10. This is to add to the other stupid lie: that Zeitgeist (and thus, Ubuntu) spies on you (and in some variants of the myth) sends your information over the wire to some big brother organization.

Seriously, folks? Seriously? <h2>Enough with the conspiracy theories</h2> If there is one thing the Open Source Community has enough of (and could really do without), it's conspiracy theories. When it's not the claim that Gnome is paid by Microsoft* to ruin the Linux Desktop, it's some nonsense about X, Y, or Z distro being decidedly evil because... "Gasp! They use proprietary apps/drivers/icons/cursors/fonts." Again, grow up. If all the software in the world was Open Source, it wouldn't automatically mean a world free of viruses, or instant innovation, or that everything would be eternally maintained.

We've had enough damage done by the claims about Ubuntu selling user data, or Zeitgeist following your every move on behalf of some unknown watchdog, or about Ubuntu dropping GNOME in favour of Unity (a clear case of confusion as to what Unity even is). We don't need to tack on "Advertisements" to the list. Why? Well, because the damage intended by the other lies has already been done, and then some, and contrary to popular belief, lying about your family will not just hurt them, it hurts you. In case anyone forgot, it is the likes of Microsoft that started up the FUD train against Linux, claiming that Linux doesn't work with almost any device you throw at it, or claiming that Linux is too hard for the average user to use, or claiming that Linux makes you vulnerable because of its open source nature.

Long story short, hurting Ubuntu for the sake of Red Hat, or Mint, or Debian, or whatever distro you prefer to use (which should be a personal choice and have nothing to do with anyone else unless <em><strong>you</strong></em> are their tech support team) - hurts the very distro you are (often childishly) trying to promote. If we are all selling lemonade, and you say that my lemonade gives people cancer, don't you think that the world will say to boycott lemonade?

(Remember the Boycott Novell fiasco? I sure do hope so) <h1>What Ubuntu 12.10 <strong>actually</strong> comes with</h1> Okay, so, this will come as a shock to those who heard otherwise (as did I originally), but what Ubuntu 12.10. will be shipped with is a shopping Lens. Initially, it will use Amazon as the backend, and it has not been made clear whether other options will be added as well. The revenue generated will help to fund Ubuntu development. Now, I've seen claims that Ubuntu will include Ads for products and other nonsense, but in reality, this is not what will be happening (I happen to be running 12.10. and so as you can imagine, all of these claims came as a bit of a shock, and an annoyance, when they didn't hold up).

Sorry to burst any bubbles, or pour water on anyone's tin foil hat, but Ubuntu 12.10. at the moment has no pop up ads, there is no link to Amazon on the Launcher (that I know of), though there might be one in the final release, and you don't get ads in the Dash, either. Contrary to popular belief, these "Ads" are actually search results from the Shopping Lens, which works the same as the Music Lens, the Video Lens, the unofficial Reddit, Wikipedia, Google Contacts, the list goes on.... Lenses. You search, you get results. If you don't want the Lens, you have two options. Remove it, or disable it. Is that so hard? <h2>Is there cause for actual concern?</h2> If you are clinically paranoid and believe that aliens are coming to get you in your sleep (we're not, trust me, you're not that exciting)... then yes. Otherwise, not so much.

It is still a bit too early to know what the final implementation of this shopping Lens will be like, so some of the areas for concern may vapourize between now and the final release of Ubuntu 12.10. So, here they are:

[important]Cause for concern: <ul> <li>Allegedly (we have yet to confirm this), the Shopping Lens may be sending unencrypted search results.</li> <li>Your search data (ie. search terms) will be sent anonymously, but as mentioned above, they should be encrypted.</li> <li>The Shopping Lens will be included by default, and like the Music and Video Lens, will offer suggestions from the internet when you search. You would need to remove/disable it to stop this from happening.</li> <li>Adult content may not be filtered, but this might change in the final release.</li> <li>Allegedly, only one developer is benefiting from the affiliate revenue, but we have yet to confirm this.</li> </ul> [/important]

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<em>*That's okay as a <strong><em>joke</em></strong></em>, but when you take it too far, things can get seriously out of hand.