1286832 - [Win10] Cortana search no longer works with Firefox

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Search, defect)

Description

[Cornel Ionce [:noni] [Hubs QA]]

[Affected versions]:
- latest 50.0a1 Nightly
- latest 49.0a2 Aurora
- Firefox 48.0b7
- Firefox 47.0.1

[Affected platforms]:
- Windows 10 x86/x64

[Steps to reproduce]:
pre-requisite: make sure Cortana is enabled
1. Open Firefox and make it the default browser.
2. Perform a search with Cortana.

[Expected result]:
- The search results are displayed with Firefox and it's search engine.

[Actual result]:
- The search is performed with Edge with bing.

[Regression range]:
- This is not a Firefox regression, but it used to work on older Windows 10 builds.


[Additional notes]:
- I'm unable to determine the exact time when this stopped working since it will require a lot of time invested into installing several insider builds.
- Tested with Insider build 14388.

Comment 1

[Florian Quèze [:florian]]

Is there something we can/should do about this?

Comment 2

[Andrei Vaida [:avaida]]

Further investigation proved that this bug is reproducible:
- with Insider Preview Build 14390 (latest as of today)
- on release builds of Windows 10 as well (e.g. 10586.494)
- with other browsers as well (e.g. Opera, Chrome)

From QE's perspective, this is an OS related shortcoming.

Comment 3

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Didn't Microsoft change this intentionally?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3063119/windows/microsoft-locks-down-cortana-blocks-integration-with-other-browsers-search-engines.html

Comment 4

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Directly from MS:
https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/04/28/delivering-personalized-search-experiences-in-windows-10-through-cortana/

> Starting today, to ensure we can deliver the integrated search experience designed for Windows 10,
> Microsoft Edge will be the only browser that will launch when you search from the Cortana box.

Comment 5

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

Yeah this is wonfix because Microsoft won't allow us to change this anymore. :sadface:

Comment 6

[Florian Quèze [:florian]]

Does this mean there's code that's now dead and that we can remove?

Comment 7

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

(In reply to Florian Quèze [:florian] [:flo] from comment #6)
> Does this mean there's code that's now dead and that we can remove?

Yes, filed bug 1287622 to remove it. Thanks for saying something :)