Dell Installs Google Software at Factory

simonjp writes "BBC News are reporting that Dell will be installing Google software onto their new machines as part of the software build. Details appear sketchy, but this signifies the first step for Google from being just something you can download to an almost 'essential' software provider. They report that both sides are to benefit from the deal, and that 'more is to come.'"

Comments

Details sketchy?

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Damn right they're sketchy. It's annoying enough when a computer comes with extra software, but if it's adware--which is what the Google stuff is no matter how "cool" they are--it's "value reduced". Google's just becoming more and more like every other publicly traded company.

Re:Details sketchy?

[19thNervousBreakdown]

Normally I wouldn't reply to an AC, but is this thinking why I was modded down?

It's one thing for a search engine to be ad supported, it's another thing entirely for ad-supported software to be installed on a bought-and-paid-for computer, especially when that ad software runs in the background, indexes your e-mail and other documents you nomally think of as private, and gives Google a way of circumventing people's normal attempts at privacy, like deleting cookies.

This is spyware, no way around it, and it'll only get more invasive.

What value to consumers is this?

[Dracos]

I don't know of any software Google produces that is worth bundling with a new machine. Google Earth? Nope. Picasa? Maybe. Google Desktop? No thanks.

As far as I'm concerned, Google belongs in one of my browser tabs, not on my hard drive.

If Dell and Google want to do a service to consumers, Google would give Dell a pile of money to put Firefox on the desktop.

Re:What value to consumers is this?

[Tough Love]

I don't know of any software Google produces that is worth bundling with a new machine. Google Earth? Nope. Picasa? Maybe. Google Desktop? No thanks.

Speak for yourself. Many users want Google Earth, Picasa, Google tool bar, etc. I certainly do, though I don't personally need them on Windows.

Do you work for Microsoft by any chance?

Let me get this straight...

[flimflammer]

Google cries faul when Microsoft makes MSN the default search engine in IE7, where it's easily changable and Google is right in the selection, but Google gets ties with Dell and other distributers to preinstall all it's stuff on the machines, shoving their search bar everywhere in sight and no so much as a glance? Hypocrites?

Re:Let me get this straight...

[bucky0]

Not really. This is kinda paraphrased from something Google's CEOs said when asked the same question on another story that was posted a while back. Basically, they argued this: Microsoft can make MSN the default search engine for IE7 for free. They can make IE the default browser for free. When Firefox moved to having google be the default browser, Google had to fork over a ton of money. When Google gets distributers to preinstall Google software on their machines, they pay a ton of money for it.

The difference is that Microsoft is leveraging it's position as the dominant OS manufacturer to allow it to force its way into different markets for free whereas all of MS's competitors have to pay a lot of money to do the same thing. I'm inclined to agree with Google.

Re:Java

[I'm Don Giovanni]

I think most of the major OEMs are bundling Suns JVM today.
But a few years ago, when Sun was trying to get the govt to force Microsoft to bundle Sun's JVM, Sun had difficulty getting OEMs to bundle it because the OEMs wanted Sun to pay them to bundle it but Sun wanted the OEMs to pay Sun for the right to bundle it.