Vista will be 'Google friendly'
2007-06-20 08:17
San Francisco - Microsoft said on Tuesday it will modify its new Vista operating system to address Google's charge that it is rigged to give its desktop search software an unfair edge over rivals.
The changes were worked out in an agreement with US Department of Justice and state attorneys general monitoring Microsoft's adherence to a 2002 antitrust decree.
"We're pleased we were able to reach an agreement with all the states and the Justice Department that addresses their concerns so that everyone can move forward," said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.
Vista users will be able to set desktop search programs by Google or other competitors as preferred default options and be given more ways to launch programs made by others than Microsoft.
Mountain View, California-based Google and other makers of rival desktop search software will get information explaining how to automatically give their programs higher priority in Vista than the built-in Microsoft program.
Late last year, Google filed a complaint that Vista is designed to give an unfair advantage to Microsoft's desktop search feature.
'Limits consumer choice'
Google makes a free desktop search program that competes with the one Microsoft built into Vista. Desktop search software enables users to scour their computers for stored information or files using keywords such as names.
"Microsoft believes that Google's complaint is without merit," DOJ and state attorneys wrote in court documents explaining the agreement.
"Nevertheless, Microsoft worked with (us) in a spirit of co-operation to resolve any issues the complaint may raise."
Microsoft expects a test version of modified Vista computer code to be available by the end of the year.
US officials wrote that they were "collectively satisfied" that the solutions promised by Microsoft address Google's concerns regarding desktop search.
The agreement with Microsoft is expected to be the subject of a June 26 status conference hearing before US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in her Washington, DC courtroom.
"Microsoft's current approach with Vista desktop search violates the consent decree and limits consumer choice," Google spokesperson Ricardo Reyes said last week after the complaint became public.
The Redmond, Washington-based software giant is bound by a decree barring it from stifling competing software with its operating system, which is used on approximately 90 percent of the world's computers.