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Justice Dept. Defends Microsoft Against Google
Frosty Piss writes "The Seattle PI reports that Google has complained to US antitrust officials about the hard-drive searching tool built into Windows Vista, saying that it stymies Google's similar search program. The complaint, lodged late last year, was revealed Saturday by The New York Times in a story about the Bush administration's handling of Microsoft antitrust issues. The real story, though, is not the Google complaint itself, but how the Justice Department is failing to enforce the Microsoft anti-trust decree. According to the story, Thomas Barnett, the assistant U.S. attorney general in charge of antitrust issues, sent a memo last month to state attorneys general across the nation, seeking to persuade them to reject Google's complaint."
rtfa.
Google is asking that microsoft provide a way for the user to disable it, so that other competing desktop search programs dont battle each other for system resources and ultimately both slow the computer down.
They arent asking for it to be removed outright
Some corrections to the parent:
1. Google doesn't care if the search tool is bundled or not, they just want MS to expose some why to turn the thing off. Having both indexing tools running at the same time hinders performance more then having just one run. Given that you can't disable Vista's most people will opt for disabling Google's. Hence anti-competitive.
2. It's similar to IE & Netscape because the end user / OEM can't remove IE from a machine and replace it with an alternative.
3. Everything else you said? Google toolbar is off topic (for what it's worth I'm sick of applications trying to install it too). Also if Google makes any headway with their talks with Microsoft Vista will actually have less bloat then before as the file indexing service can be disabled.
Have you read this article? The complaint is about the fact that you can't even turn off the Windows Live search, causing any competitor's search software (e.g. Google's) to slow down significantly. Apparently having two things scan a HDD at the same time causes performance problems.
This is a valid complaint!
The entire problem with having MS as a monopoly is the fact that they leverage that monopoly illegally to support their software and trounce on others'. This is a fine example of how to do that, as it makes their stuff look way better than the competition when it doesn't have to.
You don't need to go through the file associations menu to change what apps open what.
;)
Right click a file of the type you want to change, choose Open With and make sure you tick Always Open Files of This Type With.. option
Programs will always steal the file types, because they play them and you specifically chose to download and install it, therefore you want it to work.
Simpler way would be to stop clicking blindly through an installation, that's a good way to get crap on your system you don't want or need..
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
This is not true. You can disable built in indexing by unchecking indexing of the indexing locations (i.e. Outlook or the Hardrives) or by disabling the indexer in windows services list.
Why does it seem "strange" that Bush would appoint a Microsoft lawyer to the Justice Department that was supposed to stop Microsoft from abusing its monopoly, after the Clinton Justice Department got the court to declare Microsoft an abusive monopoly that had to be stopped? "Unjust", maybe, but how strange is it for a Justice Department that's got its chief, Attorney General Gonzales, lying to Congress every day to coverup Bush's political purges and cronyism? Not to mention all the Patriot Act travesties Bush's DoJ has committed. Haven't you heard what a zoo they're running over there?
What you might not have heard is that Jack Abramoff, the crooked lobbyist who helped build Bush's crooked Republican Congress, got his start lobbying out of Bill Gates' father's law firm, Preston Gates. It would seem strange if Microsoft weren't getting the benefit of the crooked system it's helped train and build.
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make install -not war
The complaint is about the fact that you can't even turn off the Windows Live search, causing any competitor's search software (e.g. Google's) to slow down significantly.
Are people really this retarded, cause I see this repeated?
Click Control Panel - Indexing - Uncheck the locations it searches.
Method two: Set the Windows Search to 'Manual' or 'Disabled'.
Both of these are EASY for the user, and something EVEN a Google Installer could do automatically for a user if the user chose to do it.
This is not Something that can't be turned off and doesn't run all the time if you don't want it to.
I can't believe people read the Google crap and are so retarded they think it is accurate or even a legitimate complaint.
It indexes your files, firstly, to do correctly, and without slowinng you r computer alot that takes a long time, secondly while you are using your computer you are modifying files, when you modify them, they need re-indexing. If really necessary ctrl+alt+del, find the process, shut it down, its no vital, but that's not a permanent solution.
There is already an API to the Service Control Manager API for google or anyone else to use.
no.
1. The indexer runs in the background continuously
2. No API to turn it off.
Why is slashdot full of MS trolls today? I notice they're avoiding the question of why the US govt is now part of MS's out-reach program.
Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
1. The indexer only runs when no other applications are using system resources.
2. Its a Windows Service you can easily turn it off.
Why is slashdot full of trolls today?
You can easily turn it off. There are multiple ways to turn it off. Its Windows Service you can turn it off the control panel or the search options.
If you like like the command-prompt then type 'net stop "Windows Search"
Yes, Carter was a terrible President, but there is a qualitative difference between "fish out of water" and "corrupt to the core."
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I cannot see how leaving Windows Indexing Service enabled hinders performance. It automatically goes idle when you are using your PC.
Remember... ZG9uJ3QgZm9yZ2V0IHRvIGRyaW5rIHlvdXIgb3ZhbHRpbmU=
IIRC Google uses some of the spotlight stuff (memory is hazy so I can't say how) to their advantage. It's not as simple as "a different front-end for spotlight with Gmail indexing added", but it makes use of some of the spotlight mechanisms to index local resources.
So I guess one question would be as to whether Windows' indexing is open enough that Google can make use of any of it. Is that the difference?
Also, AFAIK, Apple wasn't determined to be a monopoly guilty of anti-trust violations. Is that the difference?
No, they are demanding that Microsoft lets people disable it.
Then what are they complaining about? It can easily be disabled.
Not only can the service be turned off, and not only can you specify which locations should/shouldn't be indexed, but there is a public api available that any 3rd party piece of software can use to turn it off or configure it.
Can you point to any evidence whatsoever that Google sells personal data? The article you link does not make this claim.
The argument that you seem to be making is "Google must sell personal data because they are evil, and they are evil because they sell personal data.", which is a circular argument.
Shame on the OP and whoever modded that up as funny. It was OT and suicide is never funny.
from NIMH's Suicide in the US Statistics Page
Suicide is a major, preventable public health problem. In 2004, it was the eleventh leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for 32,439 deaths. The overall rate was 10.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. An estimated eight to 25 attempted suicides occur per every suicide death.
Mod me down for pointing this out. Screw
~WBGG~ "And I'm so sad like a good book I can't put this Day Back a sorta fairytale with you" ~Tori Amos