14 DAY TRIAL // The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera all enable users to Bing.
Mozilla was the last major browser maker that hadn’t yet embraced Microsoft’s search/decision engine, but this is no longer the case as of October 6th.
Yesterday, Mozilla announced that it will refresh the Firefox search bar in order to start featuring Bing as one of the options that end users can easily select.
However, as it is the case with almost all browsers, Bing will not be offered as the default search option for customers, with Mozilla opting to continue favoring Google.
“Google remains the most popular general search and it will remain as the default search option, unless you change it,” revealed Jay Sullivan, VP of Products at Mozilla.
“We will also continue to include Yahoo! as the second option for general search. Yahoo! has a loyal following and continues to provide a differentiated user experience, even as it integrates the Bing engine for its algorithmic search results.
“Bing itself offers a user experience that we think users will find valuable, and with its significant rise in popularity over the last year, we will also be including Bing as a general search option for English language users.”
As you might have already guessed, the change will happen in Firefox 4.0. According to Jon Tinter - General Manager, Bing, the Redmond company’s search/decision engine will be included as one of the search engine choices for Mozilla’s open source browser not only on Firefox for Windows but also for Mac.
This summer, Apple decided to embrace Bing with the latest version of its own browser. As such, Bing is now a search option for users of Safari 5.
Following in the footsteps of Apple, Opera Software also made Bing a search option for Opera 10.60 in June 2010.
Google Chrome already allowed users to select Bing as their default search engine in addition to Google itself and Yahoo.
Of course, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) the next generation of IE also features Bing, this time around as the default search option.
"We’re very excited to be included in the search engine choices in the upcoming version of Firefox. Having Bing in the “out of the box” list makes it easier than ever for the Firefox community to experience the benefits of Bing.
We expect the Bing option to show up in an upcoming build of Firefox 4.
We hope you enjoy this new choice for your Firefox experience and we look forward to hearing your feedback on how we can continue to improve," Tinter said.
Firefox 4.0 Beta 6 is available for download here.
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Beta is available for download here.
Google Chrome 7.0 Beta is available for download here.
Opera 10.70 RC is available for download here.