Google is not satisfied with Microsoft’s concessions on how it will modify its search mechanisms in Vista. It has filed another complaint, the entirety of which was published in the Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog.
The complaint says that Microsoft has not gone far enough with how it will deal with search and that its method of integrating desktop search will still mean that Microsoft search results pop up in front of Vista users first, with users required to take some sort of action to see results from another search site.
Several interesting issues are arising from this. First is simply how Microsoft may/ may not change how it integrates search into Vista. Mary Jo Foley’s Blog does a good job in looking into that, tho’ for the typical enterprise, the search feature doesn’t amount to anything all that important.
But a bigger issue is for the enterprise, discussed by Bishop, is whether Google will succeed in inserting itself into Microsoft’s antitrust oversight and, in so doing, extending Microsoft’s U.S. antitrust oversight past the end of the year, when that part of the babysitting is set to expire. Should antitrust oversight be extended, there’s no telling how Microsoft competitors will be able to influence the direction/features of Microsoft future products.
At this stage, it doesn’t look likely that Google will succeed in getting itself labeled as a legitimate plaintiff. A U.S. judge said that she will defer to the recent agreement Microsoft made rather than responding directly to Google’s complaint
