Few extracts from the itwire article:
Google has complained to both the US Justice Department and the European Commission (EC) over Microsoft making MSN Search the default search engine in the new version of its dominant Internet Explorer browser, IE7.
Representatives from both Microsoft and Yahoo have publicly said that Google is being hypocritical. They say Google has deals with companies like Mozilla, which makes the second most popular browser Firefox and PC maker Dell, where Google is the default search window in the browsers.
In the case of Google, it pays hard cash to Mozilla and Dell to get the right to have its search engine placed as the default in the browsers. This is fair use of marketing capital. In addition, neither the Mozilla Firefox browser, which has 11% market share, nor Dell PCs have a near monopoly of the market.
By contrast, Microsoft has a browser, Internet Explorer, with 85% market share and it also owns a search engine with 11% market share. Microsoft does not need to pay one cent to place its search engine in the lead position on its browser, which sits on the vast majority of PCs in the world. What that amounts to is using a near monopoly position to stifle competition.
Today, about 95% of computer owners are locked into using expensive proprietary software running on an expensive operating system that is so insecure it has spawned an entire industry devoted to protecting users from hackers.
I'm a Mac user. And life is so much better.
