From the department of WTF: AT&T replacing Google search (and services?) with Yahoo equivalents.

Now before we go any further, I’ll make known that I understand Google isn’t Android and Android isn’t Google. Google just so happens to be one of the biggest OHA members who puts the bulk of marketing dollars behind the mobile OS. With that said however, so far Google has been Android. Any Android device you pick up that’s been labeled a “Google Experience” device as been stuffed full of Gmail, Google Maps, Googlve Voice, etc. A tight knit blend of hardware and software. AT&T is set to start the Android madness this month with their first (and utter POS) attempt at the Android game with the Backflip. Besides being tainted with all kinds of useless, overpriced AT&T crapware and services, a new revelation coming to light affects not only the Backflip, but all Android devices on AT&T — Google won’t be the go to service.

That title will now go to Yahoo. To be clear, it’s only the search provider for now as Google apps are bundled with the Backflip in particular. But could it signal a different stance by AT&T? Will future Android phones not only come riddled with god awful AT&T crap apps and less than stellar (read: half-baked) Yahoo apps? Replacing the default search provider with Yahoo may not seem like a big deal, but to some it’s a huge decision. Besides filling AT&T execs’ pockets with cash, I’d like to know any other reasoning as on the desktop search front, Yahoo has been sucking hard the last several months.

When all is said and done however, the relatively low-end feature set of the Backflip coupled with the boat load of bloatware compliments of AT&T means this phone is a strict “no buy/pass”. Unless you just have to have a cheap Android device on Big Blue, you’re better off unlocking some other Android device for AT&T usage or sucking it up and waiting for 1 of 4 other Android devices set to launch on AT&T this year.

Good, bad, ugly?

Android and Me

Microsofot Store PC’s free from crapware.

Purchasing your computer at any retail location or online is hardly the same PC once you actually get a working model back to your house. When booting up your new PC for the first time, you go through normal set up with accounts and such. But one thing that has been a pain for years is the pile of crapware that comes pre-installed on your PC. Anything and everything you can think of has at some point taken the role of crapware. Such junk is called crapware because the only thing it excels at his slowing down your computer all around as well as adding a million extra steps in removing each piece of software.

Microsoft however has a rather nice surprise up their sleeve. All PC’s resold through through their Microsoft Stores will come void of any such junk. 99% honest to goodness, **clean PC’s. These new “Signature PC’s” as they’re labeled are a high point of Microsoft’s retail strategy as I would easily pass up on buying PC sold by any number retailers and save myself the time and headache and instead purchase a crapfree version directly from Microsoft.

**I’m going to have to backtrack just a bit. You see, they won’t be exactly 100% clean. But pretty darn close. Microsoft’s Signiture PC’s will in fact come with some form of pre-installed software. I know you’re thinking “Oh great, there goes that bit of happy info”. But wait! It isn’t what your’re thinking. Turn that frown upside down because Microsoft’s in-house software installs will be full featured software, meaning you can actually use the software on your computer further setting it apart from the trial versions from hell/crapware that plagues most PC’s for sale to date. Not to mention, Microsoft isn’t just going to slap any piece of crappily coded junk on their Signiture PC’s. In case you’re little noodle is interested, the list of Microsoft approved, pre-installed software includes (per Ars Technica):

Microsoft Security Essentials, Bing 3D Maps, Zune 4.0, Playready PC Runtime (for WMC), Adobe Flash Player for IE, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Windows Live Sync, and Windows Live Essentials (which includes Windows Live versions of Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Writer, Family Safety, Toolbar, as well as the Office Live Add-In and Silverlight).

See, it’s not so bad now is it? Anyone thinking that a trip to the Microsoft Stores is looking a fair bit better?

Ars Technica > Image Source}