Microsoft and Mozilla have teamed up to include a new version of Firefox with Bing built in as the default search.
“Now Firefox users who are Bing enthusiasts can use Firefox with Bing to use the Web the way they want without having to take extra steps to navigate or customize their settings to Bing,” says Bing’s Tor Steiner.
I’d be curious to know what percentage of Firefox users are “Bing enthusiasts,” or for that matter, what percentage of Bing users prefer Firefox to Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer.
Still, any increase in default search experiences powered by Bing should help Bing to some extent. Firefox does control about 20% of the browser market (StatOwl).
“Firefox with Bing offers the latest version of Firefox with Bing set as your home page and the default setting in the search box and AwesomeBar (where you can also type in queries as well as Web addresses),” says Steiner. “If you already have the latest version of Firefox, then you just need to download the Bing Search for Firefox Add-on to set the same preferences.”
Firefox with Bing itself can be downloaded here.