HP and Microsoft sign Live Search deal for 2009

June 3, 2008

Microsoft has signed a deal with Hewlett-Packard to embed a Live Search toolbar on all new consumer PCs in North America from next year. This isn’t the first of its kind – Google and Dell are in a similar arrangement right now, but Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platform and services division, is keen to acknowledge that this “is the most significant distribution deal for Live Search that Microsoft has ever done."

He did not disclose the terms of the agreement but you can bet the ears of anti-trust investigators just pricked up a notch.

Live Search will also be set up as the default search engine on the accompanying browser. Microsoft no doubt hopes this to help drive a larger number of users to using Live Search and to help raise its market share in the raging search engine wars, since that whole Yahoo! deal appears to have dies on its arse. It will probably also lead to Microsoft handling a large number of searches for the word ‘Google’.

Fortunately though, Live Search isn’t the only technology to benefit from the arrangement. The Search Bar will be built with the Silverlight plugin, so that will at least increase the uptake of the new software and should help drive its actual usage.

Finally, the toolbar will also be used to house buttons that will guide users to various HP services, such as Snapfish and customer service. So far from being an intrusive means of forcing new users to choose Microsoft services over ~~better~~ rival ones, it’s just another piece of bloatware that should be removed with all the rest. Glad that’s sorted.

via Reuters