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Microsoft's IE7 Search Box Bugs Google
tessaiga writes "The New York Times reports that Google is crying foul over a new IE7 search box feature that defaults to MSN Search. Although the feature can be modified to use Google or other search engines, Google asserts that "The best way to handle the search box [...] would be to give users a choice when they first start up Internet Explorer 7." Google goes on to assert that the move "limits consumer choice and is reminiscent of the tactics that got Microsoft into antitrust trouble in the late 1990s". I notice that in my version of Firefox the search box defaults to Google, and that the pulldown menu of pre-entered options doesn't even include MSN Search, but Google seems to have been oddly quiet on that front for the many years prior to IE7 that Firefox has made this feature available."
Firefox isn't a Google product, and isn't subject to the same sorts of antitrust restrictions that IE is. Various combinations that rhyme with 'Clucking Nidiot' were going through my head when I read the blurb.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
I thought it was strange that my IE7 beta 2 defaulted to google search...I have the google toolbar installed but the default box is google not msn search. Anyways, Google should stop crying for all the other reasons given (ie; firefox and safari default to google).
It's not Googles job to cry foul over things that benefit them. Especially, when it is a third party software.
Complaining about Google being default in Firefox is Microsofts job (or Yahoo or someone else). However, if Microsoft had complained about that they would have _had_ to make it optional in IE7 as well. So, Microsoft kept quiet about that.
If Google had complained about them being the default in FireFox then they would have been on the moral high ground when complaining about IE7. But they wouldn't be in a much better position to convince Microsoft though.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Talk about sour grapes.
When you first install Firefox, the default search provider is Google, and in fact Google even kindly provides their own startup page for Firefox users!
The fact you can easily change the configuration of Internet Explorer 7.0 to default to Google instead of MSN Search shows that (IMO) Microsoft hasn't really done anything wrong.
Here's a little trick for Google users who are going to use IE7: go to the address bar and type "www.google.com." Voila!
This is so much pissing in the wind. Google needs to get over itself and Microsoft needs a good, swift kick in the browser. Who cares! Use the browser you want to use and use the search engine you want to use! Until browsers start blocking particular search URLs of search engines refuse to run in certain browsers, there is... say it with me now... nothing to see here!
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Funny, I thought that "accusation" was common knowledge. Opera, for instance, hasn't exactly been hiding the fact. Back in September, Jon von Tetzchner said:
And later in the same interview:
Yeah, Google employs Firefox developers directly and indirectly pays Mozilla salaries. I suppose technically they're independant, but realistically Mozilla.org is a division of Google, Inc.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
I installed one of the first IE7 beta releases. I was surprised that the new search box includes a drop down that lets you change to AOL, Yahoo, Google, or Ask Jeeves (but defaults to MSN). I selected Google once, it worked as expected, but the next time I launched IE, it was set back to MSN Search. Without digging much further, I figured that was just how it had to be... Microsoft was giving space to the others, but still asserting its control.
Then when I browsed to the Google homepage, I got a little DHTML pop-up window that said something to the effect of "hey, you're using IE7, wanna change the default for your searchbox to use Google?" Perfect, I had wanted to do that, and I guess they figured out how. So I press OK. I restarted IE7, and sure enough, my default search was now Google. Thanks Google.
Except, a funny thing happened when I let Google change my settings. That list of alternate search engines that Microsoft had provided, for the user's benefit, was now replaced by a single choice: Google. Yes, I wanted Google as my default, but I never said I wanted Google as the only choice! That's annoying.
That is when I noticed the Search Settings... menu option at the bottom of the search bar's menu. It includes a Restore Defaults... button, which does exactly that. I clicked it, and all of my search engines were back (and MSN Search was back to being the default). From that Search Settings screen, I selected Google, and clicked Set Default. Now Google was my default search engine, AND I still had the choice of selecting a different engine from the drop down. That is what I wanted. Why didn't Google give me what I wanted?