Google Asks DOJ To Watch Microsoft

June 26th, 2007

The regulatory battle between Google and Microsoft is not over yet. Less than a week after antitrust regulators agreed to force Microsoft to address Google’s complaint about Vista’s built-in desktop search, the search giant is asking the federal court for more.Specifically, Google has asked the court to extend oversight in an agreement that settled federal and state antitrust cases against the Redmond, Washington-based company years ago. The oversight was supposed to expire on November 12, 2007. For its part, Microsoft turned the tables on its Internet rival with its own court filing that challenges Google’s right to ask the court for the extension.

At issue are the changes Microsoft made to Windows Vista last week to address Google’s concerns that users of the operating system would be discouraged from installing competing desktop search tools. Typically, desktop search tools are free to the user, and the hope among search companies offering these tools is that if you get consumers accustomed to searching their hard drives with a particular brand, they will search the Internet with that same brand.

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