The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that “…under a roughly three-year pact, Google, of Mountain View, Calif., would pay Dell to have its desktop software for searching the content of a user’s hard drive and emails, and a Web browser search toolbar installed on the computers, the people said. Dell would also set the default search engine for users to Google’s offering, one of the sources said.” Each computer’s homepage would be set to a cobranded Dell/Google site.
The article also explains how this agreement would help Google deal
with Microsoft Corp.’s new Web browser to be released this year. Google
complained that Microsoft is preventing users from easily changing the
default setting to something other than Microsoft’s search engine. Of
course, the Justice Department has already stated that “Google’s
concerns were not founded.”
Also, “People familiar with Google’s thinking have said the deal with
Dell wasn’t designed exclusively to strike back at Microsoft, but
rather to increase use of Google’s services. Still, a tussle with
Microsoft over the new Web browser settings increased Google’s desire
to win the Dell agreement…”
