It is well known that Microsoft and Google are far from best buddies. The two companies have been rivals for some time. Microsoft wants what Google has: the largest share of the search engine pie, and Google wants Microsoft to stay out of its space.
There have been ongoing rumors about Microsoft purchasing Yahoo in order to achieve its goals. Microsoft says that it doesn’t need to buy Yahoo in order to compete with Google.
The latest saga in this war has to do with the Vista operating system and its built-in search engine. Google accuses Microsoft of unfair practices, saying that Microsoft has set up its new operating system to purposely give its own search engine an unfair advantage over any competition.
In a white paper sent to the U.S. Justice Department, Google claims that Vista makes it hard for users to choose and use any rival desktop search engines, such as Google’s own free version. The search boxes in Vista are hard-wired into Microsoft’s own search engine, with no way for users to be able to access an alternate search provider from the visible search points, according to Google. The company also claims that Microsoft has made it completely impractical to turn off the search index in Vista.
Microsoft is disputing the accusation, saying that there is no stifling of other rival search engines and that they see no compliance issues with Vista and its search engine.
Microsoft is federally prohibited from making it difficult for software programs from rival companies to be used on Windows. This is because of monopoly laws, as nine out of ten of the world’s computers are running Microsoft operating systems.
Vista was introduced to the general public in January, and has been battling various problems with the operating system. Microsoft just announced several patched to fix critical problems in Vista.
Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Frugal Living Blog here at Families.com, where she shares money saving tips for today’s families.
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