RSSHP to make Microsoft Live Search its system default
By Ed Oswald | Published June 2, 2008, 2:40 PM
5:00 pm EDT June 2, 2008 - BetaNews has learned further details concerning the extent of the partnership between HP and Microsoft. In addition to the Live Search agreement, the computer maker would also install Silverlight, meaning that Microsoft's answer to Flash could potentially now reach millions of new computer buyers.
The plug-in is necessary to run the newest version of the Live Search toolbar, so there would really be no way for the application to not be installed.
Today the world's largest computer maker, the company that now embodies two of Microsoft's most vocal opponents with regard to Web tactics (counting Compaq) no longer has any reservation about giving Microsoft prominent placement.
Microsoft's Live Search will now be the default search for all HP computers shipped for consumer use; and Internet Explorer -- no doubt the default browser -- will carry the Live Search toolbar. Financial terms of the deal, if any, have not been disclosed.
The computer maker will be allowed to customize the toolbar -- for instance, adding in links to HP's services, including Snapfish.
Microsoft has a similar deal with Lenovo regarding Windows Live, penned in March 2007. There, Live services are bundled with new desktops and laptops, and the Windows Live Search toolbar is also installed.
CEO Steve Ballmer has made it clear that his company is becoming more aggressive in seeking out distribution deals that promote its products. Google has a deal with Dell that mirrors much of what Microsoft is doing, and with Dell running second to HP in terms of unit sales, it likely does much to strengthen the Mountain View, Calif. search company's overall position.
The deal marks a business agreement between consenting parties, and as such is probably beyond the need for outside scrutiny. But one cannot help but think back to the late 1990s, when both HP and Compaq played principal roles in the late 1990's during the US vs. Microsoft case.
At the time, HP took issue with the restrictions that the Redmond company put on OEM manufacturers concerning boot sequence and desktop customization. In a letter to Microsoft in 1997, HP said it wanted more control over how it presented its system to its customers.
"In an effort to thwart the practice of OEM customization, Microsoft began, in the spring of 1996, to force OEMs to accept a series of restrictions on their ability to reconfigure the Windows 95 desktop and boot sequence," reads Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's November 1999 Findings of Fact in that historic case. "There were five such restrictions, which were manifested either as amendments to existing Windows 95 licenses or as terms in new Windows 98 licenses. First, Microsoft formalized the prohibition against removing any icons, folders, or 'Start' menu entries that Microsoft itself had placed on the Windows desktop.
"Second, Microsoft prohibited OEMs from modifying the initial Windows boot sequence," Judge Jackson continued. "Third, Microsoft prohibited OEMs from installing programs, including alternatives to the Windows desktop user interface, which would launch automatically upon completion of the initial Windows boot sequence. Fourth, Microsoft prohibited OEMs from adding icons or folders to the Windows desktop that were not similar in size and shape to icons supplied by Microsoft. Finally, when Microsoft later released the Active Desktop as part of Internet Explorer 4.0, it added the restriction that OEMs were not to use that feature to display third-party brands."
Fast-forward to 2008, where we discover that Microsoft could easily accomplish many of the same goals without those restrictions. Of course, being the default still helps: Microsoft recently offered statistics that show that two out of every five users will use the search engine that is set as default on their computers.
Anyone with one half a brain will configure their system the way they want it, and not just use it the way it arrives shipped.
I always consult the Video-Professor before I trust anything.
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|IMHO it is always the interest of giant soft/hardware industries what prevails, one way or another. Users are used, as scapegoats.
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|Dear clowns: All PC manufacturers were successful because of Microsoft and their OS with mass appeal. It's not a big deal if they default to a MSFT friggin search - just a business decision. Get over it.
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|Microsoft had been fined and there is jurisprudence available for the ignorant to read about the MS unfair business practices (probed). Even with the best resources, lawyers and huge lobby at the government MS could not avoid being punished. So please avoid calling others clowns because you are at the pole position to be cataloged as such.
(Forced) business decisions are only part of the problem.
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|Oh righteous and enlightened one I would be humbled - if there was any relation between your and my statements...
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|Well, you said it was only business decisions and I tried to explain that MS "affected" business decisions from a very long time trough their history and not trough "massive appeal" but (at least) obscure business practices.
There were much better alternatives to MS products trough history and MS applied the most questionable methods to gain market share and kill competence. And those methods did not include releasing better or nicer products.
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|They were successful thanks to MS-DOS, PC-DOS and DR-DOS; Netware, Lantastic, Banyan, and many other technologies.
Microsoft killed them all, and while that is capitalism they also used illegal means to "win".
Case history paints a very clear picture on this.
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|Since you are so well versed with business decisions - What would be a better option given all the minute details of the deal we non-MSFT/HP-execs share?
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|There is not simple answer about that problem but I think, the first approach would be if the antitrust commission start investigating again the MS case. Unfortunately since Bush administration cases had been stopped or dismissed without proper follow up (will). The EU is doing a better job there (far from perfect, but better), but it only affect European interests.
Unfortunately major damage had already been done, though, MS was not able to destroy linux because it does not belong to a corporation MS can exterminate (or buy). Other players were already wiped out.
I think promoting open source development is a must for U.S., but I also think republicans will not promote that, at all. Now, a better linux UI is what is needed for wider adoption, we cannot tell users to start typing again... With a better base, corporations would start adopting more secure, less expensive alternatives. Hard work needed!
ODF vs OOXML battle is a good one. For once governments and corporations are forcing MS to include a better and already finished standard in their suite. First time I saw that a better standard prevails against MS. Encouraging!
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|> At least other services are much more subtle with the data they gather.
I would rather that any service gathering information on me is more transparent than less transparent. By your own admission, google is more upfront with how they use the data collected.
Microsoft should not be allowed to leverage its Windows monopoly to buy marketshare for its mediocre products. Microsoft search was not able to compete fairly in the marketplace, it came in a distant third. So now Microsoft is going to force-feed its third-rate search engine to people who have not chosen it.
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|The same way google bought their way into Dell, and made a mess of their machines. At least I know the Live toolbars, etc don't slow the machine down to an unsuable crawl like the dell machines are.
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|To me, Live Search is the least intrusive of the formats and quite frankly I'm glad it'll be the default.
I prefer the google search engine myself, but the toolbar makes me as uneasy as their gmail does. When everything you type in your email or in their search bar is instantly displayed in an advertisement on the next page load, quite frankly it scares the sh!t out of me.
I know other vendors, even Microsoft, probably gather the same data, but google just...okay maybe I shouldn't be writing this, but here it goes. There's just something about google that scares me. When I email my church, it advertises at the top about the subject in my emails. I email my dad about his eye surgery, and lo and behold, theres lasik surgery ads. I hate feeling like there's someone watching me as I type my email. It makes me feel uneasy using every other google service. At least other services are much more subtle with the data they gather.
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|... should you type in hebrew to avoid getting such thing?
or... didn't you know that Google became the best search engine by better understanding the regular consumer needs in the field?
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|Yes...google became the best search engine by scanning your emails and sending you ads about the subjects in your emails.......
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|After uninstalling all the junkware from our last few HP machines, I got a great deal on a new Acer. MUCH less junkware pre-loaded! A few minutes and it was all set and roaring fast. G'bye, HP!
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|I have just spent the last 30 mins on an acer, un-installing 90 day trials of Norton , Office, yahoo toolbar etc.
I then windows updated a boat load of updates and is now running good.
Setting the default search is, in my opinion, not what needs sorting.
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|Why are you uninstalling junkware from HP machines? Don't you reimage them with your corporate image?
Oh that's right...you're only talking hypothetically...you don't actually have any experience in a corporate environment...
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|Corporate image? I'm retired and am talking about machines owned by my family members.
Don't assume, for you know what that does. ;)
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|Our new Acer only took about 10-15 minutes to uninstall the junk, but a family member's HP laptop a few months ago took an hour or so, due not only to crapware but the various HP apps that take control over the desktop (with crude graphics and a 'Nightmare Before Christmas' style font), and try to hold your hand thru every little aspect of setup.
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|I guess in your mind every geek has to work in IT, and do desktop support.
Test question:
Q: How can you tell a newbie?
A: He still assumes.
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|I always find it amusing when setting up a new pre-configured laptop for a client to see just how many apps are running after the intial boot. I think Lenovo still holds the record - 74 open processes after boot on an XP laptop.
If it was mine, I'd be formatting that thing immediately and starting again. :p
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|No wonder. I recently bought an HP laptop screamer and it had every single piece of PC software on it that Microsoft sells as a trial. No 'try before you buy'; as soon as you click on an icon, Microsoft wants a credit card number. Even IE 7 opened with a Microsoft ad.
Took me just over 20 minutes to reformat the entire thing with GNU/Linux.
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|20 minutes to format? You are doing it wrong. I don't know of a modern filesystem that takes more than a few seconds to format.
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|I would say keep reading to the end of the paragraph, but actually you just needed to read to the end of the sentence. He installed Linux also in that 20 minutes.
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|Looks like he use Linux to format it in those 20 minutes.
Perhaps he was doing a 4x burn of the CD?
Pretty much it is just bad grammer, although one can infer to what he meant quite esily.
Latz, SB
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|He has bad grammar, u have bad spelling. lol.
Just saying.
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|I wonder how much "marketing money" that Microsoft is giving to HP in order to "convince" HP to sell out its customers to a second-rate search engine?
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|The same or just a little more money than given by the dozens of other manufacturers.
Again, this is no hairy deal at all. It happens all the time. I've seen Yahoo, Google, Firefox, even Ask! search come preinstalled on PCs.
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|I'm one of the growing millions whose next computer will be an Mac. Google's business model has always been to build a better search. That is not the business model of Windows Live. Live wants to get into the ad revenue business of a search engine, not build a better engine.
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|Fortunately I don't buy HP as it stands now because of all the crapware they install on their systems. But still lot's of folks still do buy HP thanks to stores like Best Buy and Futureshop so it should be interesting or terrifying to see what happens.
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|its amazing what a SH*TLOAD of money will do to change a companies' opinion.
BAD HP! VERY BAD!
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|So where were you when HP started selling their PCs with Symantec? McAfee? Digital Line Detect? AOL? RealPlayer? Google Toolbar?
This has happened dozens upon dozens of times with other vendors, but only now is it horrible because it's Microsoft?
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|> This has happened dozens upon dozens of times with other vendors, but only now is it horrible because it's Microsoft?
No, it is horrible because it is leveraging a monopoly to obtain marketshare for a mediocre product; a product that failed on its own in the marketplace.
While having a monopoly is not illegal, leveraging that monopoly to obtain marketshare is illegal.
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|Its normal. Google pay to Dell and Firefox to make Google's search is default. Dell install google toolbar on their PC (yes, google payed them).
You dont know what is marketing? Even your product is best of the world. If you don't marketing. No one know and you fail.
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|If the leveraging is merely a monetary reward for the act, it is far from illegal or any more wrong tahn any other reward for similar acts.
Just because they have more money does not make the actions they take any more horrible than a " poorer " company ( All the others are at very least multi-million dollar companies).
Latz, SB
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|Nope, it always sucks.
You just only notice it when someone says Microsoft.
shout **MICROSOFT** /shout
See, you jumped.
heh.
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