Knowing full well that Microsoft will be licking its wounds from the Xbox [hey, even MS sits up and takes notice of a billion dollars] for quite some time, Google decided on Friday that the answers previously given in the debate over search engine integration weren’t good enough.

The brief states that Google, in their position as a provider of a free service, should be declared a friend of the court. The previous objections met with only limited results from Microsoft, by way of a compromise.

Since Google says the compromise is not a very good one, it is determined to become an informative party to the court to help fully describe what Microsoft should be forced to do.

While this sounds good to the consumer, it apparently did not sound great to the Department of Justice. Google must tread lightly now to be able to get anything done, as it seems the attorneys involved have been sufficiently persuaded that Microsoft is being a good citizen.

It will be interesting to see what develops, as I think nothing less than allowing the complete removal of the search engine from Internet Explorer and the Desktop is wrong. Microsoft was told once to stop this sort of thing, and now it is inching its way back to being able to close off the operating system to 3rd party ‘middleware’ completely.

Perhaps a revision, much like that available in Europe of XP, without several of the MS additions would be good. The removed blocks of software could be put on an additional CD, with directions on how to install, and uninstall, if desired.

Tags: microsoft, vista, search engine, dept of justice, google, windows xp-n