Microsoft deflates complaints about default search in Vista

By Stan Beer
Thursday, 20 July 2006 16:27

Home IT

Software giant Microsoft has promised to let users and computer makers choose the default search engine for the upcoming Windows Vista operating system and its components, such as Internet Explorer 7, deflating complaints raised by its rival Google to regulators.

Google had complained earlier this year to both the US Justice Department and the European Commission about Microsoft making Windows Live Search the default search box in the Internet Explorer 7 browser.

However, in May the Justice Department issued a submission indicating that the agency didn't have a problem with Microsoft's search box in IE 7.

Now Microsoft has gone one step further to take the wind out of its critics' sails by declaring that it will consent to computer manufacturers setting Google and other competing search engines as the default in Vista when it is first booted.

Mindful of the growing hostility and scrutiny of antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the increasingly costly financial penalties and legal costs it has been forced to endure, Microsoft appears to be making a serious attempt at reforming its image as a corporate citizen.

Another part of that effort will be to make it easy to install competing media players and browsers on Vista.

Critics still believe that Microsoft should be forced to unbundle Windows Media Player and IE7 because computer manufacturers have no incentive to install rival products.

However, there is an argument that if a competing product is clearly better than the native Microsoft offering, as is the case with Firefox 1.5 compared to IE6, then users will install it anyway.