HP to make Live Search default search engine on all computers

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Search

HP to make Live Search default search engine on all computers

by Brad Linder Jun 2nd 2008

If you can't convince people to use your applications or web services over your competitor's, what's the best way to gain market share? Bundle your products and services with the operating system so that people won't have to go out of their way to use them.

Microsoft has obviously known this for a long time, and got into a spot of trouble in the EU a few years back for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows XP (among other things). So it should come as no surprise that Microsoft and HP announced a deal today that will make Microsoft's Live Search the default search engine on all computers the company ships starting in January.

HP will also install the Live Search Toolbar for Internet Explorer which also provides links to HP services including Snapfish. There's no word on how much Microsoft paid for the deal. Odds are folks who really truly prefer alternate search engines like Google or Yahoo! will change their default search engine at their earliest convenience. But we're willing to bet that an awful lot of people still just use whatever comes with their computer.

Tags: hp, live-search, windows

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Todd said 2:11PM on 6-02-2008

Headline should have read: "Microsoft Just Now Realizes the Value of Search. Only Seven Years Late."

Day late and a dollar short Redmond, the damage is done.

Hey DLS readers, what was the default search on the last computer you bought ( Any brand )? What's the burned in search for the browser you have installed?

Quikboy said 6:16AM on 6-03-2008

Google does this with Dell too. Which I found hard to get rid of, without a restore.

justin said 3:02PM on 6-02-2008

Explain to me why this should be of real concern.

Or is it just easier to rip on Microsoft because its been your only hobby for 20 years?

koolio said 3:02PM on 6-02-2008

This doesn't matter to me since I wiped out every new computer I bought. Then I have a faster, cleaner computer. Good luck to MS to get some market share.

Matias Korhonen said 3:29PM on 6-02-2008

First thing I do when I get a new computer is to wipe out all the bundled crapware that inevitably comes with it. Then I install Firefox.

James said 4:23PM on 6-02-2008

I wish I could post a Venn diagram here.
(
A: People who use the default settings on new PCs
B: DownloadSquad readers

*A* takes up most of the page. *B* is the size of a silver dollar. The intersection is the size of a pinhead.
)

My point is that everybody who posts here is of course going to say "Meh, doesn't matter to me" because of selection bias -- if you're reading DLS, this does not affect you. It affects your parents (or grandparents, depending), who don't know any better and will just use the big, friendly "Search" button.

Of course, I don't *object* to this -- after all, a lot of "Joe Sixpack" users would be happier having that big friendly Search button than not, and it's got to go somewhere... how else are they going to pick which search engine to use, if not through sponsorship deals?

dronk said 8:04PM on 6-02-2008

yo, you want to link the article you wrote where you ripped google for its deal with the firefox people for making google the default search engine in firefox? and while you're at it, please also link the story where you ripped google for its deal with dell where they made google the default search engine on new dell units shipped.

stop the hate unless it flows evenly, dood.

burnblue said 10:25PM on 6-02-2008

I wouldn't say he ripped or hated on them. But I also am confused about why this is news and the Firefox and Dell deals aren't

Corpbob said 10:25PM on 6-02-2008

Doesn't matter to me. My next PC will have Ubuntu pre-installed.

Night Elve said 6:16AM on 6-03-2008

Yeah It does not matter. I recently bought a Toshiba Laptop (With Windows Vista) and despite it has 2 GB of RAM it was slow as hell.

So I formatted it and installed Ubuntu 8.04 and now my Laptop is pretty fast, the downside is that the Web Cam was not recognized.

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