Microsoft last week agreed to change the way Windows Vista handles desktop search queries in response to a confidential antitrust complaint filed by Google. It was the first sign of friction between the two companies regarding how Google's software gets treated by Microsoft's newest operating system--but it probably won't be the last.

Google had complained to the Justice Department that Vista's desktop search is anti-competitive because it's difficult to disable and, when Vista's search runs in tandem with Google's search tool, the latter slows to a crawl.

Smith: Let's move on

In a joint filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia--which oversees the 2002 consent decree that governs Microsoft business practices--the U.S. Department of Jus- tice, 17 state attorneys general, and the District of Columbia said Microsoft has agreed to change the way Vista's search product behaves when it releases the first service pack for the operating system, a beta of which is due by year's end.

Microsoft will let users select a default search program, as they can now with Web browsers, media players, and security programs. Queries from within Vista's Control Panel and certain windows will default to Microsoft's search tool but will include a link to competing products. Microsoft also will make available to developers information that lets them optimize the performance of third-party search products.

"We're pleased we were able to reach an agreement with all the states and the Justice Department that addresses their concerns so that everyone can move forward," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in a written statement.

In fact, however, no one seems happy with the compromise. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer two weeks ago called claims that Microsoft was violating the Justice Department agreement "baseless," and Microsoft last week maintained that Google's complaint was "without merit."

And while Google was glad to see its concerns addressed, it too remains unsatisfied. "These remedies are a step in the right direction," said David Drummond, Google's senior VP and chief legal officer, in a statement, "but they should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers."

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. wasn't thrilled, either, calling the agreement a positive step, but "not perfect."

INCENDIARY POTENTIAL

The dispute is hard for outsiders to judge because details of Google's complaint haven't been made publicly available. Google, the Department of Justice, and the California Attorney General's Office declined to share a copy of the complaint with InformationWeek. Even Microsoft hasn't seen the actual complaint, according to a company spokesman. A spokesman for the California attorney general explains that Google's filing, as investigatory material, isn't subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

As recently as March, Google gave no indication that it was concerned about its search tool's performance on Vista. At the time, Sundar Pichai, a director of product management at Google, responded to an InformationWeek query about Google-Vista compatibility by saying his company had done some work to make the Google Desktop search and personalization tool run smoothly on Vista.

"We improved the look and feel of our Sidebar and Gadgets application to improve the user experience and better fit Vista's user interface," Pichai answered by e-mail. Google also made its Google Pack applications compatible with Vista, he said.

At the time, InformationWeek described the Google-Vista combo as having "incendiary potential." Now that seems truer than ever.