Google seeks tougher antitrust oversight on Microsoft

Google, dissatisfied with changes Microsoft is making to its new desktop search feature in response to an antitrust complaint, is pushing for further changes and more judicial oversight of Microsoft's practices.
The escalation of the antitrust battle between the two technology giants came Monday in a filing with the court that oversees Microsoft's landmark 2001 antitrust settlement with the US government, major portions of which are to expire in November.
On Tuesday, US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will hear from Microsoft and government lawyers on the status of that settlement at a regularly scheduled conference in Washington.
The focus of the discussions are to include the original complaint Google filed against Microsoft over its latest operating system, Vista; the changes Microsoft and the government agreed to last week; and this latest filing by the Internet search engine giant.
Beginning last year, Google complained to the Department of Justice that Windows Vista's built-in desktop search - a tool to quickly find files stored on a computer hard drive - limited consumer choice and violated terms of the 2001 settlement.
Microsoft disputed those claims. But after months of negotiations with the government lawyers overseeing the settlement, the world's biggest software maker agreed last week to make significant changes to Vista's desktop search, changes it says went beyond the antitrust settlement.
Google's filing Monday involved a motion to gain standing in the antitrust settlement and thereby have Kollar-Kotelly consider its so-called "amicus" brief - essentially a request by a third party to intervene in the settlement.
To date, the judge has been hesitant to allow other parties to gain standing in the case, and Microsoft fired back late Monday with a filing that argues why Google should not be allowed to participate. If Google's standing is denied, the amicus brief will be little more than a public-relations move, as some critics have already branded it.