Just read the NYT article (requires registration) about how Google is against the idea of MSN being the default search (in the box on the top right) for Internet Explorer 7.
Google estimates that the boxes, when available, are the starting point for 30 to 50 percent of a user’s searches, making them a crucial gateway to the lucrative and fast-growing market for advertisements that appear next to search results.
With IE’s market share on the decline and people being more tech savvy than during the Netscape days I think the numbers a bit inflated. I personally know so many non-technical Windows users that don’t use IE anymore, instead choosing to use Firefox.
The best way to handle the search box, Google asserts, would be to give users a choice when they first start up Internet Explorer 7. It says that could be done by asking the user to either type in the name of their favorite search engine or choose from a handful of the most popular services, using a simple drop-down menu next to the search box.
The Firefox and Opera browsers come with Google set as the default, but Ms. Mayer said Google would support unfettered choice on those as well.
This sounds like a problem to me. Although firefox chooses which search engine should be the default (for example in the Asian Market Yahoo! is the default search engine), firefox gets paid (and paid well I might add) by the respective search engines. Also different countries have different search engine preferences (Baidu is the Google of China).
All said and done I think this will be an interesting issue to track. This may have a significant impact on the Google stock since the majority of their bottom line comes from search based advertising. My opinion is that Microsoft should be allowed to have any default setting they deem appropriate (next thing we know companies want Microsoft to allow users to be able to choose competing word processors, desktop search programs etc. etc.). That would make for a very bad Windows “experience”!!