Paper says the search firm has told regulators it worries about MSN being the default for Internet Explorer.
Google has expressed concerns about competition from Microsoft in the Web search business in recent talks with the Justice Department and the European Commission, according to a published report.
The New York Times reports that Microsoft's (Research) new Internet browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft's MSN search service. Google (Research) contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors.
"The market favors open choice for search, and companies should compete for users based on the quality of their search services," Marissa Mayer, the vice president for search products at Google, told the Times. "We don't think it's right for Microsoft to just set the default to MSN. We believe users should choose."
The objections are similar to past anti-trust complaints against Microsoft's Windows operating system. But Microsoft executives told the paper the default settings in the browser, Internet Explorer 7, are easy to change. And it says the product was designed with consumers and many partners in mind, even though it might not be to the liking of No. 1 search engine Google. [CNN Money]
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