Multimedia software maker Adobe Systems said Google has agreed to pay a "significant" amount to distribute Google's search toolbar over several years, reports Reuters, likely in response to Microsoft's making of MSN search the default setting in its upcoming Vista Windows operating system.

Adobe has already begun distributing Google's search toolbar with new downloads of Adobe's Macromedia Shockwave Player, for use with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in Windows. Shockwave has been downloaded 200 million times and runs on an estimated 55 percent of internet-ready desktop computers, Adobe said.

Google in the past has not had to pay up front to attract customers, often relying on (and paying a share of ad revenue to) partners that drive traffic its way. But this deal, along with one earlier this year for a software bundle deal with Dell, mark a departure from that approach.