Google Joins EU Anti-Trust Case Against Microsoft Browser


Over the past couple of years Microsoft and Google have become increasingly intense (maybe even bitter) rivals. Most recently the two companies used Yahoo as something of a pawn their game. It may be somewhat unfair to all involved to characterize Yahoo as a “pawn.” But Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo primarily as a way to better compete against Google in search and online advertising. And Google offered Yahoo a paid search deal in part to help Yahoo develop a credible alternative to Microsoft’s offer and keep the property away from Redmond.

When the Microsoft offer/acquisition failed, it successfully moved to thwart Google’s efforts to extend its paid search reach to Yahoo and convince the government that Google was a search monopoly. Take that!

Now Google says it’s joining the EU anti-trust case against Microsoft tied to the IE browser:

[W]e believe that we can contribute to this debate. We learned a lot from launching our own Google Chrome browser last year and are hoping that Google’s perspective will be useful as the European Commission evaluates remedies to improve the user experience and offer consumers real choices. Of course creating a remedy that helps solve one problem without creating other unintended consequences isn’t easy – but the more voices there are in the conversation the greater the chances of success.

We don’t know how the Commission’s proceeding will evolve. But we are confident that more competition in this space will mean greater innovation on the web and a better user experience for people everywhere.

Interestingly, the author of the Google blog post is

The move is likely to add fuel to the fire in the contest between the two companies. Perhaps President Obama should appoint a special peace envoy to address the Google-Microsoft conflict?



Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and writes a personal blog Screenwerk, examining the broader world of media and advertising. He also posts at a Local Mobile Search, which is focused on the mobile Internet.

See more articles by Greg Sterling >


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ONE COMMENT ON Google Joins EU Anti-Trust Case Against Microsoft Browser

Jeff,

Google Chrome fell flat on it’s face not because IE is a monopoly, but because it’s just too different… Why does Google feel the need to come up with cute names like “minor tweaks,” “under the hood,” “google gears.”

Aside from the interface requiring some getting used to, default settings are just weird. Why is Web history browser is the default home page?




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