Microsoft and News Corp Eye Web Pact

[RoyGBiv]

Remember that little story about Murdoch "threatening" to de-list his properties from Google's search engine. I thought at the time that this was a salvo in his war on "fair use" doctrine, and I still think it may be a part of his long-term goal. But, I failed to remember that Murdoch always has a more immediate business angle in everything he does.

This is about Bing and a marriage of sorts with Microsoft.

Microsoft and News Corp eye web pact

By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles, Richard Waters in San Francisco and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York

Published: November 22 2009 23:01 | Last updated: November 22 2009 23:01

Microsoft has had discussions with News Corp over a plan that would involve the media company being paid to “de-index” its news websites from Google, setting the scene for a search engine battle that could offer a ray of light to the newspaper industry.

The impetus for the discussions came from News Corp, owner of newspapers ranging from the Wall Street Journal of the US to The Sun of the UK, said a person familiar with the situation, who warned that talks were at an early stage.

However, the Financial Times has learnt that Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google’s search engine.

News Corp and Microsoft, which owns the rival Bing search engine, declined to comment.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a243c8b2-d79b-11de-b578-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

This is not only a direct attack on Google, but a frontal assault on who controls information on the web.

[blogslut]

1. Rupert is clueless about the Internet

I don't mind if he cuts his own throat but I do worry that other media rubes will follow suit.

[RoyGBiv]

3. There's the problem ...

He's not cutting his own throat if this is a piece of a larger deal.

And, from this tentative information, it looks like that is precisely what Microsoft has in mind.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Bing........LOL .....microsoft's search engine

Who the hell uses Bing? AOL users that's who.

[RoyGBiv]

5. People laughed at Google too ...

Although I must admit the image in your picture definitely pops to mind every time I see it mentioned. :)

Bing's low market share is what they're trying to correct. If they can secure enough exclusivity among major media players, they'll shift the landscape considerably.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Assholes deserve one another. A match made in media hell.

Internet Explorer meets Fox News...

:puke:

[RoyGBiv]

6. That makes my head hurt ...

I'm just waiting for the required advertisement download popups to start.

I had a paranoid inkling back in the day that this was what the messenger service was all about and the reason they turned it on in default installs of XP Home and off in Pro. But, there were too many exploits for it to work like that.

I'll be curious to see how Google retaliates of MS gets other media content providers on-board.