| Longhorn Desktop Search - Viability Questioned
In Light of Recent Anti-Trust Ruling |
martinibuster
msg:1539606 | 5:01 pm on Mar 25, 2004 (gmt 0) |
From the Mercury News [mercurynews.com]: | The European Commission's decision to force Microsoft to "unbundle" its media player from Windows raises questions about the software maker's plans to integrate search technology... "We've got a precedent that says . . . bundling is not acceptable in some circumstances. If it could apply to media player, it could be applied to other technologies." |
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Well, it sure is cause for reflection up in Redmond. What will MS do now?
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rfgdxm1
msg:1539607 | 2:39 am on Mar 26, 2004 (gmt 0) |
Note that applies only to Europe. This doesn't mean that MS couldn't sell Longhorn outside of Europe with integrated search. Also, I have to seriously question if there are any good anti-trust arguments here. Competing media players sell them for a profit, and thus bundling this could hurt actual sales. Searching at Google, Yahoo, Ask.com etc. is free. This wouldn't stop anyone from surfing to those sites, or setting up a quick launch icon to go there. Not to mention Google and Yahoo already dominate MSN for search. I just can't imagine the world will quit Googling just because MS offers an easy way to use MSN search. Netscape lost against MS, and had a much stronger case against them than Google would.
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martinibuster
msg:1539608 | 7:29 pm on Mar 26, 2004 (gmt 0) |
That's an excellent point. But Europe is a huge market, and an important consideration in terms of producing a product that can launched without setting off a half billion dollar fire.
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willybfriendly
msg:1539609 | 8:13 pm on Mar 26, 2004 (gmt 0) |
I am not a great lover of M$. That said, I have never understood the problem with M$ developing an integrated product. I do not see auto manufacturers getting hauled into anit-trust courts because they dare to include radios, airbags and leather upholstery as part of the package. It is often the feature set that sells a product. I use Opera on my XP box because it is a better browser with a better feature set. Kind of like upgrading the stereo in my car. I still use Google for my searching (in most cases), and will most likely continue to do so until something better is developed. Even if M$ integrates some form of search in their OS. WBF
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