This time the problem is regarding the inclusion of a search box on the new Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 browser which is bundled along with the Microsoft Windows operating system as a standard part of virtually all new computers. The default setting for the new search box sends users to MSN search services, which Google believes will put Microsoft in an unfair position to control internet traffic and therefore appropriate large chunks of the advertising spend from its competitors.
Marissa Mayer, the vice president for search products at Google said, "The market favours open choice for search, and companies should compete for users based on the quality of their search services." She also stated, "We don't think it's right for Microsoft to just set the default to MSN. We believe users should choose."
In a statement last week, Yahoo! said, "We would be concerned about any company's attempts to limit user choice or change user preferences without their knowledge, and believe others would share that concern."
It is easy to see why the likes of Google and Yahoo! are worried about the new development, with Internet Explorer currently accounting for over 80% of all browser use, and future Microsoft products being developed to be more heavily integrated with the improved browser; the market share looks likely to rise again at the expense of the next most popular browsers - Firefox and Opera - which come with Google set as the default. With many users unlikely to modify the browser settings on their home PC away from the defaults, alongside Google estimates that search boxes constitute the initial starting point for 30%-50% of user searches, Microsoft is set to make a serious impact on the worldwide search industry and steal the accompanying advertising revenue streams away from their competitors.
Microsoft has countered Google's arguments by saying that the default settings in the new browser are easy to change and that the product has been designed with the consumer and MS partners specifically in mind and is therefore a benefit to users, even though it may not be liked by the other search engines.
With Google being the number one search engine across most of the world, and dominating the market in the UK, some commentators feel that Google's objections are just sour grapes at the prospect of losing advertising funds, and that this new development might help to reduce the potential for a search market monopoly and so be of benefit to users. Others are pointing to past experiences of Microsoft marketing activities within other computer software sectors such as browsers, spreadsheets and word processing where previously dominant software packages such as Netscape, Lotus123, and WordPerfect no longer exist, and where Microsoft now has an almost impenetrable stranglehold.
