After initial resistance, Microsoft are planning to comply with a recent Justice Department decree filed by Google, which cited that Microsoft have been flouting antitrust restrictions with their Vista desktop search tool.
Google's claims of Microsoft antitrust violations centre around the software giant's latest Windows incarnation of desktop search nestled inside Vista - the default search option for all new installations. According to Google this search tool is anti-competitive in that it's difficult for other software makers to offer alternatives to users and integrate them easily into the Microsoft Vista operating system.
Not long after Google filed a report to the US Justice Department, Microsoft dismissed the allegations, indicating they had analysed any possible antitrust compliance before launching the software. Now Microsoft have said they will comply with the request and include an update to the Vista desktop search tool in their first big service pack due before the end of the year. This update will include the option to change the system's default search tool to a solution of their choosing, which may be Google Desktop Search. The start menu will also be updated to feature a link to any alternative search tool.
With this solution in place, big manufacturers like Dell or HP can pass this greater flexibility on to their customers through the choice of competing desktop search products. Microsoft will also have to inform manufacturers, end users and software makers that the desktop search index tool in Vista is designed to run in the background and will cede precedence over computing resources to any other software product, including desktop search products.
Following the final agreement between Microsoft and the Justice Department, Google claimed to feel that Microsoft could do a lot more to offer users a choice of desktop search tools and not just stick with the default. Google have also expressed that these changes should go deeper into the system in all areas where search is an essential feature.
The Office of the Attorney General appears to side with Google, and California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. commented:
"This agreement - while not perfect - is a positive step towards greater competition in the software industry. It will enhance the ability of consumers to select the desktop search tool of their choice."
