DIYers IT Zone

Beating Microsoft to the Punch

Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced the deal in a Thursday webcast. The search giant is primarily targeting the millions of Dell customers on the home user front, but the company said the deal also includes Dell systems that will sell to small- to mid-sized businesses and even select enterprise customers worldwide. Dell customers who don’t want Google on the desktop can opt to not have it installed.

Dell’s news comes after Google’s recent complaint to the Department of Justice (DoJ) about MSN being the default search feature in Internet Explorer 7. The DoJ dismissed Google’s gripes, deciding that users have ample ability to change the default settings.

“Google wants to make sure that Microsoft doesn’t use its unfair advantage of being the owner of the browser to prevent users from choosing Google, which they probably would if it was offered on a fair basis,” Endpoint Technology Associate Principal Analyst Roger Kay told TechNewsWorld. This deal gives Google a little less reason to complain, he noted.

The Upside for Dell

The arrangement is also a significant win for Dell, as deal making with search engines could be a financial boon for the low-margin PC business. Acer, Lenovo, Compaq and other PC manufacturers would probably welcome such arrangements, Kay said, and Google would probably be pleased to colonize this very valuable desktop real estate.

In fact, the Google-Dell deal could open up a land grab for PC desktops, Kay predicted. Dell has demonstrated that it has monetizable value on its screen real estate, which has traditionally been rather static. PC makers have put icons on the desktop for a long time, he noted, but most users recognize them as spam-laden liabilities and don’t click on them.

“This is quite different from years ago when AOL was trying to buy real estate on the desktop before browsers were popular. AOL wanted to put an icon on the Compaq desktop and was ready to pay a lot of money for that, but Microsoft put the kibosh on it,” he recalled.