Microsoft to Open Vista to Competitors' Software Microsoft to Open Vista to Competitors' Software

WaPo article: Microsoft to Open Vista to Competitors' Software said that: "Microsoft Corp. said yesterday that it will allow competitors' software to appear more prominently than its own on the new Windows operating system, scheduled for sale next year." They apparently aren't going to default to MSN as a search enginer. Plus, I would guess this means even more 3rd party icons on the desktop that I need to remove whenever I (re)install Windows.

This is a royal pain already. I know that these 3rd parties (plus, MSFT, of course), pay good money for this, but it is a pain. I did show my offspring the other day how to remove them from both the default and common desktop folders so that they don't have to be removed from every user's desktop - you just do it once, and it is easier to do from a folder than from the desktop anyway.

Still, I remain unconvinced that Microsoft isn't the Evil Empire.