Antitrust gripes prompt Vista changes: source
552754
Microsoft Corp.  has agreed to  modify its new Vista operating system in response to complaints  that its desktop search function puts Google Inc.  and  other potential competitors at a disadvantage, a source  familiar with the case told Reuters on Tuesday.
54492
By JESSICA MINTZ SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will change the program that helps Windows Vista users search their hard drives, in response to antitrust complaints from Google Inc., a person familiar with the issue said Tuesday.
562819
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft released documents on Wednesday that detail changes it will make to its desktop search and indexing feature in Windows Vista that will be included as part of the Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) update. The changes are a response toÂ charges from rival Google that Microsoft built the feature in such a way that it slowed down competitive offerings from rivals. Microsoft agreed to make the changes as part of its ongoing antitrust proceedings with U.S. and state officials, and they were detailed as part of a status report filed in the case in June. To provide more information to the general public, the company posted documents online Wednesday that detail how third parties can help modify desktop search applications to work with the changes being made in SP1. Microsoft has said it will release SP1, a roll-up of updates to the Vista OS, in the first quarter of 2008. Microsoft said it made the changes so that a customer who uses a third-party desktop search product instead of Vista's built-in feature can have "easy and direct access" to those offerings through the Windows user interface. "That means that in addition to the numerous ways a user could access a third-party search solution in Windows Vista, they can now get to their preferred search results from additional entry points in the Start Menu and Explorer Windows in Windows Vista SP1," the company said. These features were at the heart of Google's claims, which appeared in a white paper to U.S. and state antitrust officials in April. Google said the desktop search feature in Vista discouraged users from installing third-party products because Vista's search boxes and bars -- available in several places in the OS, including the Start menu and in the Windows Explorer file manager -- work only with Microsoft's search and indexing tool. The company also said it is nearly impossible to turn off Vista's indexing, which means a competitor must add a second indexer that slows down a PC. To let their products use Vista options they don't have access to now, third-party vendors can register their search applications using the new search protocol in Windows Vista SP1, which is detailed online. An article explaining the search changes can be found in Microsoft's Knowledge Base.
663121
Microsoft said Tuesday it will modify its new Vista operating system to address Google&#39;s charge that it is rigged to give its desktop search software an unfair edge over rivals.
405646
Search giant wants federal and state regulators to press Microsoft to make more changes to Windows Vista's desktop search and indexing tool.
178724
In the announcement of an upgrade to a third-party security policy enhancement system for Windows Vista earlier this week, a key Microsoft product manager is quoted as having acknowledged Vista's own take on the solution was not quite enough, effectively reversing his company's stand on User Account Control.
630665
Microsoft may have pushed a too-aggressive XP transition schedule because of how long it took to release Vista, an analyst suggests.
136175
Microsoft Corp. has agreed to modify its Windows Vista operating system in response to a complaint that its computer search function put Google Inc. and other potential rivals at a disadvantage, the Justice Department and Microsoft said on Tuesday.
347139
Documents released today detail changes Microsoft will make to its desktop search and indexing feature in Windows Vista.
437182
InfoWorld - Microsoft will change how desktop search works in its Vista operating system by the end of the year, in response to an antitrust complaint by rival Google Inc., the company said in court documents released late Tuesday.
65329
Microsoft raised the possibility on   Thursday that it might delay the introduction of its new Vista   Windows operating system in Europe, saying it depended on the   European Commission's antitrust requirements.
561408
All is fair in love and litigation Microsoft is changing Vista to level the desktop search playing field for Google and other third parties, Reuters is reporting. The rivals are to file a joint report on the proposed changes in federal court today, according to an anonymous source cited by the newswire.â¦
135872
Software giant Microsoft Corp. will for the first time be forced by antitrust regulators to change how it designs and sells its widely used Windows operating system, after a European Union
600080
California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday that Microsoft Corp. has agreed to make "significant changes" in its new Vista operating system to stay in compliance with a U.S. court agreement in Microsoft's antitrust case.
254729
Bowing to pressure from Google and antitrust regulators, Microsoft will alter Windows Vista so users can pick a non-Microsoft program to search their hard drives.
653654
Microsoft MSFT.O raised the   possibility on Thursday that it might delay the introduction of   its new Vista Windows operating system in Europe, depending on   antitrust requirements of the European Commission.
86071
The changes are in response to a complaint by Google that a feature of the operating system is anticompetitive.