U.S. Says Microsoft Browser Is No Threat to Competition

Frankly, Google is the default search engine for Firefox. You know, the heavily Google funded open source Web browser? So who cares if MSN is the default for Internet Explorer??

The Justice Department, in a court filing, said yesterday that it found that the design of Microsoft’s new Web browser did not pose a threat to competition in the lucrative new market for Internet search.

Google, the Internet search leader, had recently talked to antitrust officials at the Justice Department and the European Commission about its concerns that Microsoft’s new browser would steer users to Microsoft’s search service, MSN.

The new browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set to send users to MSN and that feature, according to Google, could put Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors.

The Justice Department and 17 states, who monitor Microsoft under an antitrust consent decree, studied the feature for months and were regularly briefed by Microsoft, according to the court filing.

The court document noted that personal computer makers are free to set the default search engine to any service they choose. And the Microsoft browser, the filing said, included “a relatively straightforward method for the user to select a different search engine from the initial default.”

In the landmark federal suit against Microsoft, which ended in 2001, the company was found to have repeatedly violated antitrust laws by bullying computer makers to give preferred placement to Microsoft’s browser and shun Netscape…. Source: NY Times

[tags]microsoft,browser,netscape,justice department,web traffic[/tags]