Microsoft Responds to Google's Criticism

Yesterday, I blogged about the issues that Google is having with Microsoft's upcoming IE7 release. It seems that I wasn't the only one that found Google's arguments to be a little on the whiny side. Scobelizer does a great job of linking to a round-up of other bloggers's comments on the issue...and there are plenty of them!

Microsoft's Don Dodge says:

Hey Google, why not let the users of Firefox, Safari, or Opera choose which search service they want? Why is Google the default choice? Have you ever tried to change the Google search service in Safari? I tried and couldn't do it. There has been a lot of talk about Google possibly creating its own browser. I wonder what the default search service would be in such a browser? Any guesses?

Jack Schofield at The Guardian Unlimited points out:

If Google wants to extend its "Don't be evil" marketing slogan, it could easily add "and don't be hypocritical".

Niall Kennedy points out:

I installed beta 2 of Internet Explorer 7 last week. The first time I visited Google.com there was an arrow pointing to the search box and a message encouraging me to change my default search engine. I switched and it was pretty simple.

Danny Sullivan says:

In the end, I find it almost amazing that Google feels it needs to drop hints to the US Justice Department and the EU that it perhaps needs protection. In the search space, it's Google that remains the major player that many people feel may need to have a counter to. A list of the most popular search engines? Since those are largely US-dominated companies, I suspect the EU would want to change the playing field not to stop Microsoft but to hinder both Google and Microsoft. Is that a box Google really wants to open?

In fact, among the dozen or so blogs that I read, I didn't find a single one that supported Google's position on this one. Apart from confirming the sheer hypocrisy of Google's statements about the issue, that also shows me that Google may face an uphill PR battle if they keep going with these types of antics.