Google isn’t happy with IE7
May 1st, 2006
"The new browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft's MSN search service. Google contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors.
The move, Google claims, limits consumer choice and is reminiscent of the tactics that got Microsoft into antitrust trouble in the late 1990s."
I don't think Google has a leg to stand on. MSN has been more or less the default search engine in Internet Explorer for a very long time and Google has never had a problem with it. If your PC is from Dell or any other manufacturer, the chances are they'll have changed the default search engine.
If you've installed software such as the Google Toolbar or Winzip, your search engine preference will probably have been changed to Google and you didn't specifically ask for that to be done (selected by default). Similarly, Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger may install toolbars to Internet Explorer and change your search engine preference. Sure, these programmes will give you an option not to change the default search engine but so does Internet Explorer 7.
Google also pays browser manufacturers of products such as Firefox, Opera and Safari to be included as the default search engine. It pays these manufactures to ignore any previous choice of search engine that the user may have made. For example, Firefox could have used the search engine selected in Internet Explorer but it doesn't; it uses Google regardless of what the user selected.
It's a tad hypocritical to accuse Microsoft of abusing their browser to drive people to it's search engine (the only thing they are doing is making it easier to access the search engine) when Google itself is paying browser manufacturers to have themselves set as the default search engine.
IE Developers have their say on the issue.
Nicholas Carr says (via Scoble) Google should open up their homepage to other search engines. I remember when Google used to have links which would allow the user to see their query on other search engines.
I wonder if this row could delay the release of Internet Explorer 7.
Perhaps Google misjudged this whole issue. They're no longer a small company with whole armies of fanboys like they were a year or two ago. The blogosphere seems to be on Microsoft's side.
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If Google had there own GBrowser, what would be the default search engine?
It's more then a tad hypocritical for Google to say this when they are doing the exact same thing with Firefox. I don't think they have any right to put down Microsoft for this, and for once, I have to say Microsoft is right.
Jeremy Zawodny: "However, if that's what Google or Marissa really believe, why did they enter into an agreement that'd result in paying $1 billion to Dell Computer in exchange for a Googlized web browser on the computers they ship?"
Inside Google references a lot of bloggers which believe Google is hypocritical.