This time, though, it will be as a result of a lawsuit from Google that Microsoft is settling.
The settlement, reached in recent days by state prosecutors, the Justice Department and Microsoft, averted the prospect of litigation over a complaint by Google that Vista had been designed to frustrate computer users who want to use software other than Microsoft’s to search through files on their hard drives.
As the time the article was posted, the details hadn't been released, but I'm guessing by that excerpt that it probably has something to do with Google Desktop and how it functions on Vista. I haven't tried installing Google Desktop lately, and that's because I installed it once a few years ago and I hated it. Even more than I hated XP's built in search function, which is saying quite a bit.
After their lengthy battle with the feds over antitrust issues a few years ago, I'm not surprised they settled. More updates about this lawsuit as they roll in.
UPDATE - Found some more info on the settlement:
As per the settlement deal, Microsoft should create a mechanism for end users and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, to select a default program to handle desktop search and enable independent software vendors, or ISVs, to register their desktop search products for this default. This should be in the same way that ISVs can register third-party Web browsers and media players as default in Windows today.
Microsoft should ensure that the default desktop search program will be launched whenever Windows launches a new top-level window to provide search results. The company should also inform ISVs, OEMs, and end users that the desktop search index in Vista is designed to run in the background and yield precedence over computing resources to any other software product.
That's all well and good, I suppose, but you definitely won't catch me switching from Vista's built-in search capabilities. In my opinion, that's the one place where Microsoft is actually beating Google in the search game.