In a battle of Google against Microsoft, Google had said “Microsoft had purposefully designed Vista to make it difficult or impossible for users to swap the operating system’s built-in search tool for one from another vendor”, at Computerworld.ms_windowsvistaicon

So, hours later, Microsoft contended that Google has no standing in the case, and so should not be allowed to join the settlement discussion. “Google has nothing new to offer the Court, except for the veiled request that this Court go behind the enforcement decision of the plaintiffs and make Google the ‘20th Plaintiff’,” Microsoft’s seven-page memo read.

And in that memo it also said, “Microsoft attempted to undercut Google’s reason for extending the consent decree by promising to release a beta Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) before the decree’s Nov. 12 expiration. Google had hinted that Microsoft, which had previously committed to launching SP1 only before the end of the year, might never implement the changes. The Nov. 12 deadline for Vista SP1 is the firmest timetable yet for any major milestone of the update.”