I believe that Microsoft’s interest in Google’s business predates the launch of Bing. You can replace the brand name “Bing” with “some kind of search/advertisin

I believe that Microsoft’s interest in Google’s business predates the launch of Bing. You can replace the brand name “Bing” with “some kind of search/advertising/internet gateway” business. Remember Microsoft used to be a very competitive outfit with a history of using their dominance of desktop OSs to enter new markets. It’s easy to forget that Microsoft of old were able to keep bankrolling loss leaders to “cut off the oxygen”[1] of any market that they saw as threatening Windows. [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/04/98/microsoft/198390.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/04/98/microso...