Microsoft and Its Competition with Google

Most people are well aware of the rivalry between Microsoft and Google. Because of this rivalry, both companies have taken jabs at one another in the past. Most recently, Microsoft seemed to turn up the heat on Google, blasting the company for its problems with providing users with privacy.

Just the other day, the Wall Street Journal included an excerpt in which Google, along with a few other advertising companies, were accused of not respecting the privacy protection that is built into Safari, a web browser and used by tons of users through the iPhone, the iPad, and Mac computers as well.

In the meantime, the senior vice president for communications at Google, Rachel Whetstone, says that the accusations in the newspaper are completely mischaracterized and also says that there are no codes that are actually embedded into specific websites as a means of tracking users. Whetstone did, however, admit that there is a code that has been installed which basically tracks the “cookies” of those who use specific devices.

Whetstone said that Google did not anticipate this problem and that the company did not, by any means, try to invade the privacy of its users. She also says that the company is now working to remove those advertisement cookies from the web browsers as a way to respect and protect the privacy of its users.

The head of marketing for Microsoft and its Internet Explorer web browser, Ryan Gavin, says that Google has been tracking users this way for quite a while now and that it is not something new. Gavin says that Google did this deliberately and claims that the company simply does not respect the privacy of its users. Gavin also suggested people avoid using Safari and use Internet Explorer 9 instead because it respects the user’s privacy.

Both companies have their own unique ideas when it comes to preventing tracking from occurring. Internet users are able to use the Do Not Track option as a way of preventing advertisers from tracking what they look at and what they do online.

Internet Explorer, along with Firefox and Safari all support the Do Not Track code. However, Internet Explorer 9 has a brand new feature included, which is the Tracking Protection feature. This feature helps to block out certain sites. In the meantime, however, Google Chrome does not use the Do Not Track header like many of the other web browsers do.

It is, of course, nothing new when it comes to watching Microsoft and Google compete with one another, bashing each other along the way. The two companies definitely do not see eye to eye when it comes to the privacy of its users and this is something that Microsoft is making very clear.