AUSTIN, TEXAS - In a move that underscores the cut-throat competition in the PC marketplace, Dell Computer, the world's biggest PC manufacturer, announced last week it will sell PCs with pre-installed search software from Google.

    For Dell, the partnership represents the latest attempt to boost revenues as it struggles against slumping margins, slowing sales growth and a resurgence at its main competitor, Hewlett-Packard.
    From Google's viewpoint, the move to offer its factory-installed search technology drives a wedge into the hegemony of Microsoft whose preinstalled software tools have long dominated the PC desktop.
    Comments Google ceo Eric Schmidt: "We are partnering on the advertising and there's more to come." He declined to elaborate on what that "more" might be.