Ed Bott's Windows Expertise

I’m having a hard time understanding why Google is so outraged at Microsoft’s design of the search bar in IE7. Steve Lohr summarizes the complaint in today’s New York Times:

Google, which only recently began beefing up its lobbying efforts in Washington, says it expressed concerns about competition in the Web search business in recent talks with the Justice Department and the European Commission, both of which have brought previous antitrust actions against Microsoft.

The new browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft’s MSN search service. Google contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors.

The move, Google claims, limits consumer choice and is reminiscent of the tactics that got Microsoft into antitrust trouble in the late 1990’s.

I don’t get this at all. Let’s look at IE7 up close and compare it to Google’s preferred browser, Firefox.

Here’s IE7’s search box (note that all screens are from the Windows Vista version of IE7, but the behavior in Windows XP is identical):

Yes, MSN Search is clearly the default. But what happens if we click the arrow to the right of the box and choose Find More Providers? Why, that takes us to this webpage:

Click the Google link and up pops this dialog box:

Click the option to make this the default search engine, and then click Add Provider. Voila! As if by magic, Google is now the default search engine in IE7’s search box!

Five clicks.

Now, let’s look at Firefox. Google officially supports Firefox with contributions and affiliate programs that reportedly put tens of millions of dollars each year in the Mozilla Foundation’s coffers. In exchange, Google gets the default position in the Firefox search box. So how does one go about changing the search engine in Firefox? Well, we could start by clicking the down arrow in the search box, just as we did in IE7.

Oh dear. Microsoft’s search isn’t in that list, which means we’ll have to click the Add Engines link. That takes us to the Search Engines section of the Firefox Add-ons page. Just like in IE7.

Clicking the MSN link pops up this dialog box, and clicking OK adds the new entry to the search box. Just like in IE7.

Now back to the search box, where we click the little arrow again and choose MSN. The butterfly is now on the search bar.

Five clicks.

The procedure is virtually identical in both browsers. Both companies install their search engine as the default choice in one browser, but provide an easy procedure to add other search providers and set them as the default.

Microsoft also provides instructions that explain how search providers can create a link that automatically changes the default search engine for the IE7 search box. And, of course, installing the Google toolbar also changes the default search engine in Firefox and IE, unless you clear the checkbox during setup.

And, of course, PC makers are free to negotiate deals with search engines as well and change the default settings for Internet Explorer, regardless of what Microsoft says.

I hope the antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic dismiss this complaint in record time. But there’s just no telling what those “beefed-up lobbying efforts” will buy.

28 Responses to “Google cries foul, but for what?”