Microsoft to EU: new browser rules will help Google

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 00:23

Your IT - Home IT

Microsoft has warned the European Commission that planned regulations covering Windows and browsers will only increase Google's dominance of the search business.

As we all know, Microsoft bundles Internet Explorer with Windows, a tactic that many have argued gives the company an unfair advantage in the browser market.

To counter that advantage, the European Commission (EC) proposes to force Microsoft to distribute other browsers with Windows as well.

According to the Financial Times , which claims to have seen a confidential letter from Microsoft to the EC, Microsoft argues that the result would be lessened competition in the highly prized Internet search market.

Firefox, Opera, and of course Chrome all automatically default to Google as their primary search engine.

That means, argues Microsoft, that the choice of browsers PC buyers get on their setup screens is de facto also a choice of search engines. Google's willingness to strike deals with browser vendors to become their default search engine means the EC's rule could lead to dominance in one market even as it tries to even the field in another.

Microsoft's concern over keeping the search market as open as possible is undoubtedly strengthened by the work the company has been doing on its own new search engine, code-named Kumo .