Zorin search is the default homepage that comes shipped out of the box with Zorin OS. The link to it can be found here:
https://start.zorin.com/
Based on my experience I would say Zorin is a privacy respecting company, even going out of their way to disable telemetry that comes with their pre-installed apps(i.e. Firefox). It is also boldly stated on their front page. I and (I believe everyone in this community) respect their stance towards privacy.
But the default homepage and search engine are both Google. Zorin could be an amazing platform to introduce people to open-source, free, and privacy respecting software.
My first impression when I saw this page was that Zorin endorses Google which (for me as a user who was escaping those platforms) is not the best first-impression. I do not think that Zorin developers endorse Google or Google products and I think that this has been included for the sake of simplicity.
That's why I made this topic to shine some light on it and also present an alternative to the developers. SearX
SearX is a self-hosted metasearch engine. You can learn more about SearX at the link above. Not only it is free, open-source and privacy respecting, but most importantly it could be self hosted and branded as well. For instance the /e/ foundation hosts an instance of SearX with their branding for their users to use (Anyone can use it, but it is the default search engine on their platform).
https://spot.ecloud.global/
It is a self hosted SearX instance with the /e/ branding.
If Zorin decides to host a SearX instance of their own maybe even with their own branding it could have many benefits not only for the user but also for the Zorin branding as well.
Firstly, new users are introduced to a free, opensource software and their fear of open source software could dissipate. While for more veteran users it would build a reputable image of Zorin in user's head as they see they endorse these types of projects. And finally, it builds a small Zorin ecosystem for the users to stay in. Users love to have the option to stay in one unified ecosystem (Using Zorin OS + Zorin Connect + Zorin Search, ...).
I will tag @AZorin and @zorink so that this topic would come to their attention. I would also love to hear other community members' thoughts on this topic.
