Google's honeymoon is over

Google has created a firestorm over Microsoft's IE7 browser search service defaults. Jeremy Zawodny from Yahoo calls it Google's Double Standard and explains that Google has made deals with Dell to be the default on Dell PCs, Apple to be the default search service on Safari, and Firefox to be the default search service on its browser. Opera and Mozilla also have Google as the default search service.

Microsoft's IE7 honors the users previous choices when it installs. If they used Google, IE7 will install Google as the default search service. If the user wants to change the default it is really simple. Ed Bott shows how simple it is, complete with screen shots, and compares IE7 to Firefox's process for changing defaults.

The reality is that user behavior will not be changed by a little search bar in the IE7 browser. Google has about 45% market share for search, and it is growing. MSN has about 13% market share.  Many users have Google as their default home page. Others have Google as a bookmarked favorite. Google has been pushing a free search toolbar on its home page. User behavior is already set. Google is whining for no reason.

The honeymoon for Google is over. The reaction from the blog world has been very negative towards Google. It is pretty clear Google is whining and complaining about something it does itself with Firefox. Remember, Google hired the founders and leaders of Firefox and pays money to Mozilla. So Google heavily influences what happens in both browsers.

Everybody loves an underdog, but Google with $10B in cash, 7,000 employees, and 45% market share is no underdog. Silicon Valley start-ups and technology companies have lost lots of employees to Google and are having a hard time recruiting new employees.

The tide has turned. Google is no longer the company that can do no wrong. Its "do no evil" slogan is being severely tested. The law of large numbers is now being applied to Google's financial performance. Get used to it. It comes with the territory.

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Comments

[Cordula]

Google's honeymoon is over - that's correct. Nevertheless Google's finger pointing at Microsoft is the right thing to do.
Microsoft built the Windows monopoly, and on that it built the IE monopoly. Now it's trying to use it for gaining market share in the search engine market. Though I think Microsoft will not succeed, it's the same old game nobody likes.
I didn't care about its monopolies, because I used Windows and IE anyway. But I do care about the search engine. For me as a journalist Google's results are far better than MSN's. Therefore I google. I don't want a superior technology to loose, because it mostly lives on the Web and not on preinstalled computers.
Of course, I belong to the one third of users who don't have any problems changing the settings of IE. Therefore I will go on using Google. But there are lots of users out there, who will use what is preinstalled. Since they don't know, what they are missing, they will not do the finger pointing. Google has to do it.

[codey]

The reality is that user behavior will not be changed by a little search bar in the IE7 browser.

Actually it does change. It is far more easier for me to do a ctrl+k on Firefox and key in my search term and hit enter than go to Google to do my searches.

[Steve]

"Google is whining for no reason."

Don I agree with you on this point. When I read the headlines about this my first reaction was similar to many other people - so hypocritical! These are the same guys paying Firefox a few cents every time a user makes a Google search. No, its not the same as what Microsoft is doing, but it is in the same ballpark.

Who would blame Microsoft for having MSN as the default search in their own browser? Why would they ever make it someone else's when they have invested money in developing their own search engine? It only makes sense for Microsoft to do this.

Microsoft is being smart about this. They know that MSN search is not the leading engine out there. If they were to make it hard to switch to Google, customers would have a no-brainer reason to switch over to Firefox. Losing an MSN search & IE user is a worse case scenario for Microsoft than just losing an MSN search user.

[Jay G. Ethridge]

This is not whinning, this is Google trying not to be "Netscaped". Microsoft is up to it's old tricks trying to leverage their illegal monopoly in the desktop commuter market to gain advantage in the search market.

Using a natural monopoly in one market to leverage into another is fine, but Microsoft, as determined on 2 continents, came about it's monopoly position through illegal means.

It's a travesty that they continue to benefit from it in the desktop and server markets, it would be an injustice for them to benefit from it in seach.

[Mark]

The argument that google has itself integrated into Firefox and Opera is idiotic because the point is you can easily switch it out if you for some reason wanted to use MSN's browser and on IE7 you can't do that nearly as easily.

Microsoft is playing the bully role again which is what gets them into trouble every time. They're stuck in the 1999 mentality of getting ahead by being as sneaky as possible and trying to out screw the other guy.

But no one else is playing anymore guys.

The legal problems Microsoft will face (not to mention the HORRIBLE PR) from blocking gmail emails from being sent to hotmail accounts will alone kill Microsoft's web presence and doom them to being an OS manufacturer. Until someone comes along and does that better too.

[Dennis Goedegebuure]

Hi would like to encourage MSN to make giant leaps in the search market. Yes Google is a better search engine, at the moment. But I would like to see a more healthy distribution of marketshares between all search engines. Especially in Europe, weher Google is in the 90%+ in most of the markets.
This distribution shows Monopolistic behaviour at Google.