Microsoft to change Vista after Google complaint
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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.
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(InfoWorld) - Google still hopes to influence changes that Microsoft plans to make in Vista's desktop search function, even after the parties involved in Microsoft's 2002 antitrust settlement agreed to alterations to the search system. On Monday, in response to Microsoft's opposition to an earlier request, Google asked that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allow it to weigh in as an interested party regarding the way the search function should be changed. The filing comes two weeks after Microsoft and the plaintiffs in the antitrust suit said that they had worked together and agreed to changes. The concerns about the desktop search function initially arose after Google complained to the plaintiffs and state attorney generals late last year that Microsoft's desktop search put third-party desktop search providers at a disadvantage. According to the terms of Microsoft's antitrust settlement, third parties like Google must address their complaints about Microsoft's compliance with the settlement to the plaintiffs and the states. In their quarterly report to the court on June 19, Microsoft and the plaintiffs told the judge that based on Google's complaint, they had agreed on a way for Microsoft to change Vista desktop search to satisfy third party concerns. However, on June 25, the night before the judge was set to meet with the parties to discuss the quarterly report, Google made a filing to the court asking to weigh in on the case. In addition to the request, Google included the comments that it wanted to file as a third party. In a response filing, Microsoft called the move an attempt at an "end-run" around the terms of the settlement agreement, which require third parties to work with the plaintiffs, not directly with the court. Microsoft also argued that the matter is settled already, so there's no issue for Google to participate in resolving. It also argued that Google isn't qualified to participate because it isn't a party involved in the antitrust case. During the discussion of the quarterly report last week, the judge appeared to agree with Microsoft. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly remarked then that the plaintiffs serve as representatives of the consumer and that Google isn't a party in the case. Google's filing on Monday is in response to Microsoft's filing. Google argues that it can offer an important and useful perspective to the situation because it is a developer of a desktop search product and because it initially drew the attention of the plaintiffs to the Vista desktop search issue. Google is also asking for more information about the agreed changes so that it may determine whether they go far enough. If Google thinks the changes aren't enough, it wants to have the opportunity to offer its opinions to the court, according to the filing. The next step is for the judge to decide whether to allow Google's participation.
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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.
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Blog: Tucked inside Microsoft's agreement to change Vista's desktop search is word that a beta of the first service pack for Vista will come this year. No word on when the final version will ship, however.
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Documents released today detail changes Microsoft will make to its desktop search and indexing feature in Windows Vista.
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Microsoft  has agreed to modify its new Windows Vista operating system in response to a complaint that its desktop search function put Google  and other potential competitors at a disadvantage, the Justice Department and Microsoft said on Tuesday.
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SEATTLE -- Microsoft has fended off Google antitrust complaints by agreeing to make it easier for computer users to choose competitors' programs, an increasingly common response from a company long accused of trying to stifle competition.
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WASHINGTON -- The judge overseeing Microsoft Corp.'s antitrust settlement said Tuesday she would not immediately address complaints Google Inc. has made about Microsoft's Windows Vista software.
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Software giant battles activation of unauthorized copies of its new Vista OS.
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Tycho:  I don't know whose fault it is exactly, mine or theirs, but I won't be installing Vista anytime soon.  I would like some crazy shit to happen when I minimize something don't get me wrong.  I want my windows to go Waja-wajow(!) is possible.  But if there's a great reason to "trade horses midstream" or whatever the going metaphor is I haven't discovered it.
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Blog: Microsoft's proposed changes to search functions in Windows Vista, per a pact last week with regulators, don't go far enough to promote "user choice," search giant tells antitrust judge in new filing.
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Friends in government Google has welcomed Microsoft's proposed modifications to Windows Vista which make it easier for third parties to conduct desktop to third-parties' search. But it says its rival must go further.â¦
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A bizarre episode in which Microsoft announced, then rescinded, plans to change EULA restrictions on how consumers can use Vista made for a strange Tuesday for observers, and an unhappy ending for users hoping to use the OS on virtual machines.
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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.
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Microsoft denied Wednesday that its software had arbitrarily changed Windows Vista's update settings, saying that users were responsible for the modifications that generated claims of unauthorized patch installs.Reacting to reports that first surfaced last Friday, a program manager for Windows Update said today that an investigation had turned up no evidence the Oct. 9 security fixes had switched settings in Vista's AU (Automatic Updates)."From the customer logs that we received, we found that none of the updates released as part of the October security release have made any changes to users' AU settings," said Nate Clinton in a post to a company blog. "In fact, in the logs we reviewed, AU in all cases was set to 'install updates automatically' prior to the October security release."Vista allows users to turn off AU entirely, tell the operating system to check for but neither download or install any fixes, instruct the mechanism to download files but not install them; or accept all patches without any additional approval.The claims that AU settings had mysteriously reverted to the "install automatically" setting began to trickle into a message forum on the AeroXperience Web site soon after the release last Tuesday of six security updates. Several users said that AU downloaded and installed patches even though they had specifically instructed Vista not to do so.But unlike last month, when a Windows newsletter revealed that Microsoft had updated users' PCs contrary to their instructions, the newest charges were limited to AeroXperience members. No similar reports, for example, were posted to the Windows Update support newsgroup hosted by Microsoft. During September's brouhaha, that newsgroup was thick with messages about the stealth updating.Certain that AU had not run amok and changed its own settings, Clinton fingered users for the altered state of AU. "I want to stress that the Windows Update client does not change AU settings without users' consent. However, AU settings can be set or changed in the following scenarios," he said, and then listed five; all require the user to take action or accept one option from several offered."During the installation of Windows Vista, the user chooses one of the first two recommended options in the 'Out of Box Experience' and elects to get updates automatically from Windows," Clinton said was one possibility. Another: "The user chooses to opt in to Microsoft Update during the installation or the first run experience of another Microsoft application such as Office 2007."Earlier, a Microsoft spokeswoman had been more blunt. "It may be more a case of someone clicking to change their AU settings but not realizing /remembering doing so," she said Tuesday.Users on AeroXperience writing to the forum after Microsoft wrapped up its investigation accepted Clinton's explanation. "The disparity between the Windows Update control panel applet and the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) update settings page (when first running Windows Vista) seems to be what's causing the confusion," said a member identified as Bryant.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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MicrosoftÂ on Thursday released an update to Windows Vista that will shut down unauthorized versions of the OS that allow users to skip the product's activation system.
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U.S. antitrust authorities confirmed on Tuesday they reached an accord with Microsoft Corp. requiring the company to modify its Vista operating system in response to complaints its desktop search function puts Google Inc.  and other potential competitors at a disadvantage.