BEIJING, Jun. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft on Monday announced a deal that will make its Live Search the default on all PCs made by Hewlett Packard for the U.S. and Canadian markets from January 2009, according to media reports.
Under the agreement, HP, the world's largest PC maker, will also install copies of Internet Explorer with an extra Live Search toolbar on those computers. The toolbar will also have links to HP's online services.
The deal is Microsoft's latest attempt to chip away at the dominance of search leader Google Inc.
"This is the most significant distribution deal for Live Search that Microsoft has ever done," said Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platform and services division.
Google dominates the Internet search engine market, handling 10 times more traffic than Microsoft's live search. Yahoo attracts more than twice as much traffic as live search.
Number-two PC maker Dell and Google have an agreement to preinstall Web and desktop search software on Dell's consumer computers.
(Agencies)
