Microsoft deal with HP: pre install LIVE search on all PCs

[Miamacs]

is this ok?

didn't MS get busted every time it tried to bundle IE/MSN/LIVE?

Microsoft signs search distribution deal with HP [news.yahoo.com]
(JESSICA MINTZ, AP)

In a bid to boost its Web search traffic, Microsoft Corp. on Monday announced a deal that will make its Live Search the default on Hewlett-Packard Co. personal computers shipped in the U.S. and Canada, starting in January.

The deal also calls for HP, the world's largest PC maker, to install copies of Internet Explorer with an extra Live Search toolbar on those computers. Microsoft said the toolbar also links to HP services such as its Snapfish digital photo printing site.

...

[mikedee]

I think they only got into trouble for not allowing system builders to remove IE and install something else, this was the case where Bill showed the faked video 'proving' how removing IE would make Windows unstable.

[grelmar]

Google does this with Dell and other manufacturers so it's unlikely an effective complaint can be launched.

Ballmer claims their research indicates that 40% of users use the default search engine.

If this is true, then everyone needs to start optimizing for Windows Live Search.

I'm not panicking. If this were true, Google would never have reached 60% of U.S. searches. Also, good, "White Hat" SEO achieves a decent baseline across G, Y, and MSN.

[mikedee]

Maybe Ballmer meant 40% use the default search engine to find Google?

[BillyS]

I heard the other day that the number one search term on Live.com was "Google"

[Gomvents]

BillyS, not just Live, but Yahoo, dogpile, Lycos, and almost any other search engine you can think of. People don't know how to use url bars sadly :(

[Samizdata]

almost any other search engine you can think of

The number one search term on AOL is (allegedly) "Enter Keywords Here".

It's probably not true, but it is somehow very easy to believe.

[Miamacs]

Maybe Ballmer meant 40% use the default search engine to find Google?

heh... right on.

...

remember the AOL 'leak' ?
google was the no.1 (actual) keyword ...even though AOL search *IS* Google.

...

long live SEO.
as long as two thirds (+) of all searchers are this lazy and ignorant, this profession isn't likely to go under

[supafresh]

The default search for a fresh install of windows is msn/live search, in vista the tool bar uses live by default. I remember reading an article about live search gaining ground because of all the new copies of vista being sold. People were content or didnt not know how to change back to google.

how is this anything new.

[Miamacs]

as silly as it sounds... they supposedly install an *extra* toolbar.

...

[Miamacs]

oh dear ...

*smirk*

Yahoo delivers search toolbar via software packager [news.yahoo.com]

Acresso, which was recently spun off by entertainment media security company Macrovision Corp (MVSN.O), makes the widely used InstallShield, a technology used by software makers and corporate network administrators to install new PC programs.

Under the deal, Acresso plans to distribute to its customer base of more than 500 million computer users the Yahoo Toolbar -- an add-on to browsers that users can download, providing access to search and other Web navigation services from Yahoo.

The deal is designed to keep Yahoo from losing share in the competitive Web search market.

this one takes the 'It Installs like SpyWare!' award of the year.

"I can't believe it's not spyware! Can you?"
...this thread may as well belong in Foo now.

[edited by: Miamacs at 11:48 am (utc) on June 6, 2008]

[Baruch Menachem]

Most of the folks the advertisers want are savvy enough to go to google anyway.

I usually use safari at home, but at work I am on a xp network. If you make a typing error, you deal with either a 404 or the the live search engine. Everyone at work, 75% of whom are not very computer savvy, go right to google anyway.

As a search engine, Live is a great ad for google.