But not entirely sure that the arguments presented in this article are valid and would sway a technical crowd.
Given how trivial it was just now for me to switch to DDG in Chrome, I don't see how that's anti-competitive.
It sounds like a bunch of lame whining to me. I didn't use DDG before, but I at least respected their work. This is just weak. Google has done great things for the tech world by building chrome and android and releasing them as free and open source, to attempt to bring them down because you think it takes too many clicks to change the default search engine is shameful. Yegg, if you don't like it build your own browser and mobile operating system.
It's excellent PR because it creates a coherent David Vs Goliath narrative that journos will buy and so will the bulk of the non-technical populace. A few more variations of this in different publications, and you'll see that it might seep into the public consciousness.
Could this be where they're trying to move towards a more mainstream market?
They did take VC funding, and they may need to show growth in the mainstream market to their investors.