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 […]

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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?


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About the author

Greg Sterling
Contributor
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

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