There’s something funny going on over at Google.
First of all, a couple of days ago, I see reports that Google is talking to the U.S. justice department, about the fact that IE7 is having MSN Search as the default search provider (which, first of all, isn’t true: it’ll have whatever the default was in IE6 if you upgrade, and whatever the OEM sets if you buy from an OEM. It’s only the minority of people who buy retails versions of Vista that will have MSN search as the default).
Then on the weekend, I see that Google has signed a deal with Dell, the largest OEM supplier of PC equipment, that will see Google’s software pre-installed on millions of new Dell machines.
Now let’s call a spade a spade and say that it’s rather hypocritical of Google to complain about the default search provider in IE7, while at the very same time signing a deal to see their software on every new computer sold by Dell. Add to that the fact that Google is the default search provider In every other major browser currently on the market (Firefox, Safari, etc). What are they afraid of?