ComputerWeekly.com (www.computerweekly.com) announced on October 26 that the software giant Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) has offered the search engine giant Google (www.google.com) to help promote Windows XP. And while senior Microsoft executives pit the company against Google in a looming Internet search war, the company last week started offering a Google search tool for download from the Microsoft.com website.
Google's Deskbar (http://deskbar.google.com) is included in Microsoft's Partner Pack for Windows (www.microsoft.com/windows/partnerpack), a collection of Microsoft and third-party products released last week that Microsoft describes on its website as "the ultimate application package" for a Windows XP PC. The Deskbar adds a search box to the Windows taskbar, allowing users to search the web with Google without having to start a web browser.
Microsoft's promotion of the Google Deskbar comes as it works to deliver a beta version of its own MSN search engine and a desktop search application by the end of 2004. Another reason for Microsoft to include the Google Deskbar in Partner Pack was because it was built using Microsoft technology.
Joe Wilcox, a Jupiter Research senior analyst, said that the inclusion of the Google Deskbar in the Windows Partner Pack is an example of how Google can be a partner for Microsoft's large Windows group while at the same time a rival to MSN, a relatively small Microsoft group that in June 2004 ended its first profitable year ever, and that while MSN Search may be in hot competition with Google, for the Windows platform Google is a valuable partner.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said that Microsoft is pleased that Google recognized the potential of the Windows platform and the .net Framework and chose to use it to enable the delivery of a great search application. Google spokesman Steve Langdon said that bundling the Deskbar in the Windows Partner Pack is an example of industry collaboration.
