This headline is misleading, you should have written a blog post reacting to the OpenDNS post not insert your opinion into the real news story; Google and Dell redirect your typo's to a page that shows nothing but ads where people are most likely to look and click.
OpenDNS becomes users DNS when they or those in charge of their network choose to use them. The results you are presented and ads are the same you would see on Google.com search engine results pages (SERP's).
Why the negativity - it's not hijacking if you open the door and invite someone to drive your car nor is it hijacking if you use OpenDNS and they help provide a better experience with typos.
The problem is the preinstalled software that is also difficult to uninstall. It is DNS requests hijaking. By the way, some people are concerned about privacy. Don't you think it should be their choice to use google bar & dns request smartness or not ?
If Dell would provide a first time loging dialog asking the user if he want to use google toolbar with this and this benefit it would be a much different situation.
Whatever openDNS is doing, it doesn't make Google and Dell right. Users should not have to live with built-in advertisement in their laptop. I don't think it matters how easy it is to uninstall, it's still wrong. I would even get rid of logos on monitors and lids: this is a computer, not a t-shirt.
OK, look, I'm going to try and reply to this in the politest possible way, but sometimes I find that difficult when faced with statements like this.
I really don't understand where people get off preaching about other people's business decisions. In what way is Dell installing whatever software they like, on a computer they build and sell, "wrong"?
What law of nature states that computers shouldn't have logos on them? The non-t-shirt-turing-machine-no-logo law? I haven't heard of that one.
OK, I'm done now. I'm perfectly happy that you make aesthetic and technical decisions about software and hardware, but don't go calling people who engage in voluntary trade "wrong", or telling them what they should or shouldn't do.
After reading the story, I'm aghast that some people here are more upset about OpenDNS than Google/Dell. What OpenDNS is doing seems MUCH more in line with what a user would expect.
Because I read about it on Gruber's page, and thought it was worth sharing. Rather than submit to his page, I thought it would be more helpful to post the original link.
I apologize for using an over inflamatory tone in my link title.
I had tried to temper it with the explanation that they claim to have a good reason, but I see that this wasn't as effective as I intended.
Seconded! People get dang picky about the price they pay for free services.
This pays for the free services they provide: a) faster, more reliable DNS lookup, b) automatic phishing protection, c) optional content filtering (both blacklist and whitelist, and d) fine-grained control over lots of network preferences.
What OpenDNS is doing is far more pernicious than what Dell did. You can remove Dell's software and still use your computer. If you're making the mistake of relying on OpenDNS, there's little you can do to avoid their proxy.
You'd want to say this is a horrible precedent, but it's not unprecedented --- it's exactly what Verisign tried to pull on us a few years back.
You can choose to buy Dell or not in the first place as well. (And if you say that people can have Dell products forced upon them by their company, well, they can have OpenDNS forced upon them by their network administrator as well.)
OpenDNS becomes users DNS when they or those in charge of their network choose to use them. The results you are presented and ads are the same you would see on Google.com search engine results pages (SERP's).
Why the negativity - it's not hijacking if you open the door and invite someone to drive your car nor is it hijacking if you use OpenDNS and they help provide a better experience with typos.