
Microsoft's next-next-next gen browser, Internet Explorer
7, has a search box in the upper right corner of the browser window. It goes to Google, right? Heh. I was just testing
you. No, it goes straight to MSN's search engine - where, of course, Microsoft gets all the ad revenue.
According to
a New York Times
article, Google is complaining about this tactic to both the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission,
insisting that it smacks of Microsoft's infamous anti-competitive practices in the '90s. Currently, MSN has an 11%
share of the search market, whereas Google rocks a 49% share. (Yahoo! is at 22%, in case you're keeping track.)
None of the previous IE browsers had included default search tools, although Firefox, Opera and Safari have
included them (featuring: Google, but offering a drop-down menu) for a while now. Microsoft argues that, after all, a
user can
change the default search engine (and I'm sure I'm not the only one who realizes the typical
consumer, won't).
I'm not a fan of anti-competitive practices but... who's the monopoly here? Did someone
say something about 49% of the market? That's
awfully close to a majority. If the consumers don't like it,
there's always Firefox, where Google still reigns supreme.
[Image
Haipunk]