All Lenovo computers worldwide will soon come bundled with Microsoft's Windows Live software, the companies announced Wednesday.
By April, the Windows Live Search portal will be the default Web search service of Lenovo PCs. Installed browsers will also include the Windows Live Toolbar, which uses the Live Search engine, the companies said.
The partnership includes all Lenovo brand computers, including ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops.
The deal marks a big win for Microsoft. Lenovo became the world's third-largest PC company after acquiring IBM's PC business in May 2005.
Lenovo previously installed a suite of Google applications on its PCs, which included the Google browser toolbar and the Google Desktop search application, as well as the search giant's Picasa photo-editing program.
According to Lenovo, the Microsoft Windows Live deal is set to replace the Google preferences.
"Google's search and toolbar [have] been removed as [defaults] for users to access on their Internet browser. However, Google search can still be selected and made a default," Lenovo spokesman Ray Gorman said.
"Independently, we continue to work with Google in other areas of our business," Gorman added. "Today's agreement really supports our strategy to provide customers with a global platform to enhance and customise their online-computing experience."
Lenovo has closed several bundling deals. In 2005, the Chinese company offered a limited amount of PCs loaded with Sun's StarOffice 8, a suite of applications using the OpenDocument format.
Hardware manufacturers should remain software agnostic and steer clear of bloating an image with unwanted software and services. This only adds to the time it takes to set up a PC - much time is spent uninstalling software pre-loaded by the manufacturer. And, to top it off, the last thing people want is more Microsoft...