GOOGLE WANTS FEDS TO WATCH MICROSOFT

[Anonymous]

Google Presses Feds to Watch Microsoft
SEATTLE
07 – Google  Inc. is pressing for an extension to the U.S. Justice
Department’s oversight of Microsoft  Corp.’s business practices, most
of which is set to expire in November, according to a court filing
Monday.”Microsoft’s hardwiring of its own desktop search product into
Windows Vista violates the final judgment” in the U.S. government’s
antitrust case against the software maker, Google said.Over the last
year, Google has complained to state and federal regulators that
Microsoft’s “Instant Search” program, which helps Windows Vista users
search their hard drives, slows down third-party desktop search
programs. Google also has said Microsoft makes it hard for PC users to
choose alternatives to the built-in search, including Google’s own free
Google Desktop program.The search company’s claims were meant to show
that Microsoft is not complying with the antitrust settlement, reached
in 2002 after the U.S. government concluded Microsoft used its
near-ubiquitous Windows operating system to squash competition.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is now bound by a consent decree that
requires it to help rivals build software that runs smoothly in
Windows.In a report published last week, the Justice Department and
Microsoft detailed a compromise response to Google’s complaints.
Windows Vista users will be able to set a non-Microsoft program as the
default desktop search engine. Microsoft also will add a link to that
alternate program in the Windows Start menu, but will not change the
way Vista “Instant Search” works. The software maker said the changes
would be available by the end of the year.For Google, those changes
didn’t go far enough. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company asked
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to extend beyond November
parts of the consent decree that govern “middleware,” or software that
links different computer programs.”The remedies won by the Department
of Justice and state attorneys general from Microsoft are a positive
step, but consumers will likely need further measures to ensure
meaningful choice,” David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, said
in an e-mailed statement Monday.Microsoft filed a legal response in the
same Washington, D.C., District Court late Monday afternoon. The
software maker argued that Google shouldn’t be allowed to challenge the
desktop-search compromise struck with the Justice Department and state
attorneys general by bringing its complaints directly to the
court.Google’s antitrust argument turns, in part, on its claim that
Instant Search is a new feature in the Windows operating system – one
of the conditions that must be met in order for the court to find
Microsoft in violation of the consent decree.Brad Smith, Microsoft’s
general counsel, said in an interview earlier this month that Instant
Search is not a new feature, but rather an update of the hard-drive
search that has been a part of Windows since the beginning.”The
government has clearly stated that it is satisfied with the changes
we’re making,” Smith said in an e-mailed statement Monday. “Google has
provided no new information that should suggest otherwise in their
filing.”Google’s court filing comes one day before the next scheduled
District Court hearing to review Microsoft’s compliance with the
antitrust settlement.

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June 27, 2007 at 2:12 PM